Funding for Colores was provided in part by New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts and Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers like You.

THE MODERN ART AND POLITICS IN GERMANY, 1910 TO 1945 EXHIBITION AT THE ALBUQUERQUE MUSEUM REVEALS HOW ARTISTS CREATED MASTERWORKS AMID TREMENDOUS POLITICAL UPHEAVAL AND CENSORSHIP BLENDING HUMOR, PORTRAITURE AND CRAFT.

AN ARTIST KNITS FULL BODY COZIES THAT TRANSFORM PEOPLE INTO LIVING WORKS OF ART THROUGH PAINSTAKING LIFE-SIZED BIRD ETCHINGS ARTIST JOHN COSTON INFUSES AUDUBON'S LEGACY WITH MODERN ARTISTRY IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

ART AS PROTEST [Melancholic Music] >>Faith: What was your vision in curating this show?

>>Grun: We wanted to tell the history of Germany of Berlin, of modern art in Germany, to the public in the United States, that this was our vision.

We are showing a part of our modern art collection from the years of 1910 to 1945, which was a very turbulent time in Germany.

And, also a very dark time, because of the rise of the National Socialists in 1933.

And I think that -- yeah, it is important to tell this history, also the dark times.

And I think there are also connections to current times because war and political extremes, they are of current global relevance.

>>Faith: How did you choose works that best reflect the relationship between German politics and art?

Between 1910 and 1945?

>>Grun: Our collection deeply illustrates this connection between art and politics.

Many, many artworks from our collection reflect the German Empire, the First World War, the Republic, and then, the era of the National Socialists, dictatorship, and the Second World War and the Holocaust.

And for this exhibition, we wanted to introduce the main art styles that shaped the Berlin art scene during the first half of the 20th century.

So we chose, expressionist artworks, and also, works from the New Objectivity movement.

And we chose works which are reflect underscore this, connection between art and politics, not only in the motives and the depicted people, but also we can tell with these works, different biographies of the artists who took different paths during the Nazi era of fleeing into exile and continue to work in secret.

>>Faith: I wanted to talk about Kollwitz's Tower of Mothers, and then Beckmann's Self-Portrait at a Bar.

Those were used as very powerful social critiques at the time.

>>Grun: Yeah.

Kollwitz's sculpture, The Tower of Mothers, was created in the 30s.

And Beckmann's portrait, self-portrait in about the 40s during his exile in Amsterdam.

So these artwork actually weren't shown, when they were created because they were censored by the dictatorship.

So, there was no possibility to show them really.

And I think the power, you see in this works is visible for the visitors afterwards because he took always -- sculpture as a really great, warning of the war.

And she is showing mothers protecting their child from the danger of the war, and she depicted the suffering of the population, of course, this was a highly critical way to create art.

And, in the case of Beckmann, at 33 Beckmann was forced into exile because he was also dismissed from his professorship at the academy in Frankfurt and had to flee to Amsterdam and a national gallery lost all of the Beckmann works.

In ‘37 during this degenerate art campaign.

And it shows, really melancholic Beckmann in a thinkers pose, he seems, kind of imprisoned, because of black surfaces around him.

I think he is reflecting his own situation, the situation of the arts, it is showing his situation in exile and, that he was forced to give up his life in Germany and, also his position to teach students and -- Yeah, it was a really sad situation for him and for the arts in Germany, during that time.

>>Grun: In the 20s, the First World War was still very present in everyday life because, the population was very poor.

Germany had to pay reparations.

And, you could see disabled veterans, everywhere in the streets.

Joseph Shaw, depicted close up of veteran and his face, totally distorted And many artists, male artists served in the army, during the First World War.

And he reflected their own traumatic experiences in the arts.

[Somber Music] >>Faith: How do works like Shad's Sonja or Grosz's Pillars of Society capture the tension between creativity and censorship during this period?

>>Grun: These works you mentioned were created in the 20s during the Weimar Republic.

And I think Shad's Sonja, she's an icon for the emancipation of women during that time because this was, the Golden 20s.

These were years of great renewals in Germany.

And, in 1918, women were given the right to vote and in everyday life and urban life, this so-called new woman appeared, and this is what Sonja is.

She is a woman, sitting alone in a Berlin cafe, and she wears a fashionable dress and a modern short haircut and she smokes American cigarettes I think Shad wanted to depict this woman.

But the story behind this person the real person behind the model, is very sad.

And this is connected to the National Socialist era because she was Jewish and she was fired from her job because she was Jewish.

She worked as an employee, and she had to move to Munich.

And there she met an American painter, Franz Herda and he saved her several times from deportation to Auschwitz.

And after the war, she survived.

And after the war, they married and they moved to New York City.

Her real name was Albertine Gimpel.

>> Faith: And the other work, Pillars of Society.

>> Grun: Pillars of Society.

This is really a paradigmatic for our collection in which, art and politics merge, because George Grosz depicted the ruling class of the Weimar Republic in a very ironic and critical way, which is also very, yeah, intelligent and funny, because he transforms common sayings, into picture, like, we have an, parliamentarian and he has [Expletive] for brains.

[laughter] >> Grun: I think, this is a very intelligent painting, and he foresaw what would come because, on the on the top of the painting, you see a burning house, and that means that a house of the Weimar Republic is already burning because the National Socialists gained power.

So this is a very strong piece in the show.

[Melancholic Piano] >> Faith: How do you hope that visitors will connect lessons from this show to our contemporary world?

>> Grun: It's a kind of warning where, societies or where art may come under threat due to the, repressive politics and, I think, yeah, you can make connections to the current times because, you see, things in the artworks like the war or, also poverty of the population or, political extremism.

And, I think this is a global current issue of our times.

KEEP CALM AND COZY ON >> Skees: So I knit cozies for people, think tea cozy.

[British Music] Like a British tea cozy.

Just a warm covering to keep something warm and snuggly.

But my cozies are a little more aggressive in their cozy.

They are full body coverings that covers most of our identifiable features.

The legs, they're almost always bare because I find that hysterical to feel like people aren't wearing pants under the cozy.

And I also think knees are kind of funny.

I love art history in general, so I was really inspired by portraiture, painting and estate painting with people showing off their estate by posing in a painting.

And so I thought of these very constructed, very posed, very formal photographs.

And that's how I kind of began to think of them.

Not as cozy, but as cozy photographs.

So for me, the photograph is the piece.

The cozy is a part of the piece.

Through that, I kind of have this conversation with them about how they present themselves to the world, what's important to them, and how we communicate to an audience who they are as people.

It started with my friends and family because they are very willing to go along with my ideas.

[Skees on set] Yeah, there you go.

>>Skees: My crazy artist.

Things that I come up with.

So they're used to that.

This very first of the series, its my mother and dad, and basically how it went was mom, dad, can you tow your Airstream to the Walmart parking lot and stand in these knitted things for me?

[Imitating parents] “Okay, fine.

I guess.” I had planned their cozy colors to coordinate and also go with the silver of the airstream a little bit, feel a little mid-century, in palette.

I wanted you to know where they were, and I wanted the mountain landscape in the background.

And then this yellow stripe up front is just a nice pop of color.

This was kind of at the height of that, like a culture of RV people who would camp out in Walmart, which felt very Americana to me.

It just felt like a portrait of a certain segment of America.

And now every time this is shown in a gallery, or I sell a print of it like my dad asks for a commission, I'm like, “that's not how this works, but thanks” [laughs] Once I had done a few and people saw the photographs and saw what I was doing, I had some requests.

I have other friends, wanting to be a part of it.

Usually it's somebody I know and have a wonderful idea in mind for them.

This one was particularly made for the Alabama Theater, in Birmingham, it was my good friend Pat, who I worked with, and she always had cargo pockets full of stuff.

So I couldn't imagine, like making a cozy that it didn't have pockets for her.

So that's how that design decision came about.

But I also do cozies for people who I've never met before, until we have a conversation about the cozies, and I'm excited about them are they're excited about me.

And we have a really interesting dynamic.

And we can do wonderful, photographs that way.

So it's it's grown and sort of changed over the years.

If I cozy you, it's meaningful to me as a person to be like, I want to cozy you.

Because it means you're sort of important in my life.

This is one of my newer photographs, Jay, in the Dismal Swamp.

And it's an interesting story.

We went and scouted this location.

Wilds were puffy and perfect, and the sky was blue, and we had this beautiful horizon line, and I thought that would be a wonderful shot.

And then I knit the cozy.

We go out there, the sky was overcast and moody and cloudy, and where I had framed it up, it was much flatter.

It was on a dock and they had to replace the railing and it was just not the same shot.

And I was very disappointed.

And at the last minute, I was like, “Go stand on this boat ramp.” And I saw this corner, and I saw the trees and I saw the really dramatic clouds.

And I think this photograph is better than what I imagined it to be.

And I love when that happens.

I think this one just has so much drama, the way the light is hitting and the clouds.

I do love this photo.

The way my projects come together sometimes feels more perfect than others, and I think this one just all the elements, wound up being there for me.

>> So the actual sitting down and knitting is when I get to go to my studio, I can't even really listen to music or podcasts or anything because I have to keep count.

So it's a lot of setting up the machine, which she is old and spinning.

So, you know, I have to oil it down with WD 40 before we begin, and make sure she's ready to go.

The stitch pattern is pretty unique.

It's something I developed early on in the series, and it's like two stitches.

Skip a stitch, one stitch, skip a stitch, two stitches.

And it's just something I made up.

I liked the pattern.

I like that it was a little, it had a little gap there and created a vertical stripe so that is in every one is always that sort of three stitch pattern.

And then I have to do the threading and make sure it's just right before I start knitting.

I start it the same way every time.

I have a very, specific pattern to begin with.

I do sets in 20, and I always start on the same side because, I do have ADHD, and if my mind wanders and I lose count, I have to kind of start all over.

So I have a clicker and I have a system so that I keep myself on track.

It's very meditative, and just emptying my mind and counting is nice to do.

Any time my mind wanders, I am in trouble, so I have to.

It is very much a practice.

In my second half.

I'm always happy to have like a whole conversation and see what kind of interesting things we can come up with, because it's so fun and I enjoy talking with people and working with people, and I like to facilitate these experiences.

I think it's memorable and interesting, and I like that people are a part of my work.

I never thought that people would be as weird as me, and I love that they want to just get on board with this strange, cozy train.

A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT >> John: One question I get a lot from people when they see my work.

They look and say, “Well, why do you do etchings?” Why not do a painting and do reproductions?

“Why not do that?” And I tell them they're not the same.

There's certain visual qualities that etchings have that these other processes don't have.

>> Janet: Most people do not know what etchings are and what is involved, so I just say, “Well, he's kind of like a modern day Audubon.” What Audubon did with plates with birds.

John makes his birds lifesize.

They're all hand-painted.

They're extremely, extremely detailed because he goes out on the field and he studies feather patters, leg patterns, like, for example, the sandhill crane that he just did.

He spent 40 hours drawing those legs.

So I would tell people, if you want something very detailed and bright and beautiful, that you need to go see my husband work.

>> O'Conner: My favorite thing about the work that John does is being able to just see him create it.

It is incredible to me to watch something start as an idea and just watch that idea come to life.

It is watching something magnificent unfold.

It's like this magical side of art that I get to bear witness to.

>> John: Where in Ybor City?

This is sort of the outskirts of Ybor.

This building was constructed probably about 1904, 1905, and this building was a dry goods store.

In the late 70s, I was, an electrician, and I had a great career there if I wanted to go that direction.

But I always had an interest in art and went to school at USF.

And while I was there, one of the classes I had taken was printmaking.

>> Janet: I met John 24 years ago and it still blows me away.

The things that this man can do that I've never seen anybody else do.

And when other printmakers see his work, they're overwhelmed that he's using, you know, large plates, making birds life size multiple plates and hand coloring them as well.

So I'm his biggest fan, I believe.

>> John: I like large scale etchings.

I like the intensity of them.

Something you rarely see.

Most artists that do etchings, they're of this scale, small, small scale because they're so intense to to work on all the technical things that you have to do to do a plate that size to work large is much more challenging.

>> O'Conner: One of the most interesting things that I have learned working here and being a watercolor artist's assistant, is color theory.

The way that John knows color so intricately blows me away.

Just on top of all of his other skills, the colors that he uses down to the shades of black are so specific, so that they really create a depth of -- dimension to these birds that brings them to life, that really makes them pop off of the paper.

>> John: I look at a lot of these pieces as a scientific experiment, where you have a series of variables, and they all have to be completed just right to get the right result.

So, I document everything.

That way somebody can come behind me that I've worked with and trained and can achieve the same results long as they adhere to my notes that I take.

>> O'Conner: With every bird that we work on, John and Janet share their knowledge and interesting things about them.

Most of them are life-size, so I get to see these birds up close in his etchings.

So my knowledge of birds is really growing.

>> John: My interest in birds started when I was young.

Our family lived in Blue Ridge, Georgia.

We had a farm there.

Because of that, I was exposed to a lot of different birds in the area and that piqued my interest.

When we moved to Florida, I had the chance to see a lot of these larger species of birds that created an even stronger interest.

Seeing these up front, close and personal, >> Janet: It's kind of weird to be emotional about birds, because before I met John, you know, I didn't know.

I did not know much about birds.

>> John: I feel that when you look at a piece with just one subject like that, you empathize with them more.

So, you're not just a distant observer.

You're there in that bird space.

It takes on a character, a personality.

One of my goals is for the viewer to connect with that subject matter, and that's one of the reasons why I just use one bird.

I'm hoping that maybe indirectly from them connecting with that bird, they might have more of a care about the environment they live in.

>> Janet: It amazes me.

Some people will say, oh well, is it just a print?

Because I see that a sign in number?

No, [Laughs] it's a handmade piece of art.

There's nothing done with a camera or a computer.

It's all handmade, it's fine art and it's amazing.

[Upbeat Music] >> John: In addition to my own work, I've been collecting antique prints for 30 years.

I have an interest in how other naturalist approach that, How did they -- why did they do that?

How did they do it?

And I feel that I want to add to that with my work.

That's one of my goals, knowing all of these things that have happened before me and then adding my own thumbprint on there -- a contemporary view.

[Somber Music] The Award Winning Arts and Culture series Colores is now available on the PBS app, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and at NMPBS.org.

From classic episodes to brand new shows, Colores is Everywhere.

Watch now on your favorite NMPBS platforms.

Funding for Colores was provided in part by New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers like You.