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I will be called 'degenerate,' but I will not allow my art to be labeled as such!
Marilyn Manson, February 2003
A major theme in The Golden Age Of Grotesque was a hearkening back and drawing influences from various points in history, including the present, which were grotesque, decadent and debaucherous, as well as those which were deemed as such. One of these which is the most prominent, both in history as well as Manson's inspiration for The Golden Age Of Grotesque was the art and artists who were deemed as "degenerate" by the rising Nazi party in 1930's Germany. Though not always drawn from so explicitly, this has always been a major theme in Manson's art; the dichotomy and constant battle of expressionism and censorship. A theme which still exists in America today. Although art may not be banned today (at least not often successfully so), the suppression of progressive, new and innovative ideas in art and expressionism exists very much so. And if not by banning, by self-imposed societal standards as to what is "beautiful" and "ugly", something which can oft be just as dangerous and damning. A theme which Manson has always fought against.
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Exhibition catalogue for "Entartete Kunst" exhibtion |
Gottfried Helnwein God as Baron I, 1987. |
In Europe, and specifically Germany, after World War I, the growing apathy of the youth and the increasing disillusionment towards the government after their betrayal unto them by being led into the most horrific war ever known to man up until the time, gave rise to the most progressive movements which the art world had ever seen. The youth which were filled with feelings of disillusionment and apathy, used this rage, their ennui, or boredom, to their advantage and begun such movements such as cubism, dada, surrealism and expressionism. Unlike how it's viewed and taught in schools today, art to them was something tangible, something that affected change, it was an escape, and for some a necessity in keeping sanity. Virtually the entire civilised world was in a state of disarray after World War I, and the art movements of this time reflected and expressed this global disposition. Art, with such incendiary movements such as dada, became ugly, became shocking; art was the artist's revenge against the world who had led him astray and beaten him down and its ugliness and harshness was the mirror that reflected the degradation of the society around him, it was the artist as the prolific and incendiary creation of the society he lived in.
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Entrance ticket to a "Degenerate" Art exhibition. |
"Degenerate" Art Museum opening. |
But not everyone is able to find their salvation in art, nor did everyone appreciate the scathing and grotesque reality which was often depicted. And though the artist was able to portray society and save himself it did not however save the plebian aggregate masses, who needed a more literal and immediate solution. The world economy had compleatly deteriorated (as this was the time of The Great Depression), currency and money had become literally another form of toilet and wall paper. When the Nazi party came to power, through terror and blackmail namely, it was promised that all said problems would be alleviated and Germany would be restored to its great and empiric state, something which was also done. Though in the process, in restoring all which was purely and patriotically German, anything deemed un- Germanic or unglorifying to the fatherland was demonized, villified and ridiculed. Most familiar and recognizeable were the book burnings of works deemed un- Germanic and the mass persecution of the Jews. But along with these came the persecution of art and expressionism.
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Mord or Murder, watercolour by Otto Dix. |
Hans Bellmer, Doll (La Poupée), 1934. |
Shortly after coming to power and the Nazi's restoration of German patriotism came the persecution of art, entertainment and those who participated in them. Many and most of the progressive works of art were deemed "degenerate", confiscated and either sold, burned or set on display as a ridiculed spectacle in what came to be known as "degenerate Art" Museums. Works of artists such as Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Edvard Munch and, two of the most notable of the era and to our purposes here, Otto Dix and George Grosz. The traveling "degenerate Art" museums were some of the greatest and most progressive art exhibitions which the world has ever seen or known, yet ridiculed and demonized in place of the praise they were deserved. Paintings were often auctioned off, vandalized or hung askew in mockery.
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Detail of the Dada wall at the "Entartete" Kunst exhibition. |
Collection of Nazi confiscated "Degenerate" Art. |
This is where the term LOW ART GLOOMINATI comes into play with Manson's lyrical poetry. LOW ART as a synonym for "Degenerate" Art, which is purposefully evoked as an empowerment to expressionism; by demonizing oneself beforehand, it leaves little rest for any one possessing critical and belittling eyes to condemn. Which is also in itself a belittlement towards this belittlement of progressive art; to empower it through its evocation. And 'GLOOMINATI' as a play on the words, the prefix gloom juxtaposed with Illuminati to insinuate Marilyn Manson as a dark, overly sinister misery spreading entity, which again is done so sarcastically as they bring nothing but joy to myself and anyone else who gets "it".
....the LOW ART GLOOMINATI aimed to depress.
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Manson emerging on a triangular elevated platform during his 'Thaeter' introduction to the Grotesk Burlesk tour. |
Pyramid and all-seeing eye in triangle, believed by some to be a hidden symbol of the Illuminati's supposed New World Order. |
All the art we have done, has many levels, but in regards to Mickey...his image was also considered to be 'degenerate' by the fascist government in [1930's Germany]. In America he represented so much more. These are pieces of the imagination, no more, no less.
Marilyn Manson
February 2003The photo in the middle of The Golden Age Of Grotesque album booklet is Manson is made up in Black Face. Black face was a type of theatre makeup in the early Vaudville and American theatre where, before blacks were allowed to act, a white was made up with black face paint with a white ellipse around the mouth and occasionally white circles around his eyes. The principle involved is similar to men dressed in feminine guise in the Shakespearean days when women were not allowed to partake in theatre acting. And the same in traditional Japanese theatre today.
The fact that Manson is dressed in Black Face is representative further of his art being deemed as "degenerate" by judgemental society, just as black culture was deemed as "degenerate" and forced into dimminuative servitude throughout American history, yet also embraced by white culture simultaneously. Just as today when 70% of the consumers of rap music, a phenonenom from the streets of black culture, are from young middle class whites. The dichotomy of fascination and demonization.
Also hearkening back to Manson stating that, "I will be called 'degenerate,' but I will not allow my art to be labeled as such!" This "degeneracy" is not a literal one, just as the art in the "Entartete" Kunst, "Degenerate" Art exhibitions of Nazi Germany were in context and reality anything but degenerate. They were some of the greatest and most progressive works of art ever on display but villified and belittled as "degenerate" because that's what those who were in power ingrained this fascist morality and standard of beauty unto society. Just as Manson has fought against the today self imposed "The Fascism Of Beauty" which society willingly imposes upon itself. Manson gazing into a mirror, mockingly and uncaringly of of society's fascist standards, admiring his own "degenerate" beauty.
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Example of the old vaudeville Blackface makeup, by Al Jolson. |
Manson and Gottfried Helnwein collaborative photograph. |
Before the Civil War, and before slavery was abolished, there was a form of entertainment called minstrel shows. These minstrel shows started in 1828 and were popular from 1841-1870. The white performers would cover their faces with burnt cork. This style of make-up was called black-face make-up. The performers would then go on stage and mimic the "down on the farm" lifestyle of the slaves on the southern plantations. This was done through music, song, dance, and acting. Although this type of show today would be considered racially degrading, in the mid-1800's it was popular with the white audience of the time. After the civil war these minstrel shows lost their popularity. But some of the minstrel acts moved onto the vaudeville stage, bringing their black-face make-up with them. These performances in vaudeville led to African-Americans themselves putting on black-face make-up and creating vaudeville routines. Initially African-American performers put on black-face so that they would be accepted by the audience, since the mostly white audience had never seen African-American entertainers.
LazerVaudeville.com
Collaboration between Helnwein and Manson to promote the album.
I was not allowed to put the paintings on the cover of the record! Our anticipation was not to create album artwork. We wanted to create a collaboration, and from that came the idea to use it for the cover, because we did not consider the Golden Age of Grotesque to be limited to an album. An album is very limited with censorship, and with time constraints and space constraints. We did intend for the white and black images of me with the ears to be the front and back.
I feel the black one is very American, and the white one is very European. The black one is somewhat more evil, and the white one is kind of innocent. I actually think that the white one, visually, strikes me as more evil. It's like a Pierrot. You know, American versus European. The entire time that I did it, I don't think anyone mentioned the blackface and the relevance of it. The relevance of it is the exploitation of a performer, or an artist. The Mickey Mouse was invocative because of the hat, and a lot of people feared that it would be a lawsuit from Disney, but it does not even, in it's fullest frame, show both ears. The hat that I ended up making is very similar, but it's asymmetrical, because I have a real problem with symmetry. I like things to be different on both sides, like my brain. The white one, on the other side, is like the child.
All I can say about it is I'm glad that it makes it into the collection of images that represent me as best as it could. I think that it just scratches the surface of what Gottfried and I could do together. Also I think it was most appreciated and understood for it's biggest quality and it's biggest political impact.
Like I said, people can take it anyway they want. People took it as serious as it could be in Europe, particularly in France and Paris, and in Japan because they saw my commentary on America. They saw me as much as people see Mickey Mouse as an American symbol. You cover your mouth with blackface, which really represents a franchise, moneymaking, and slave creation of entertainment, that isn't even human. That's an animal, on top of a podium that is exaggerated - a comedy form of fascism. It sounds very American to me. It sounds like a Happy Meal. That's not to say that's the only way you need to look at it.
Interview with Marilyn Manson for INROCK
By Evie Sullivan, July 2004
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Topsy & Eva, a vaudevillian musical-comedy play by the Duncan Sisters, a retelling of Uncle Tom's Cabin
with the central focus on the novel's inversed pair of children, Topsy and Eva, instead of Uncle Tom. |
Very few, if any, of the thousands who brought Uncle Tom's Cabin to the stage did so to promote Stowe's message. When the Duncans discovered the possibilities of using the novel to expand their own career, surely they had neither the proper role for Christians nor the horrors of slavery in mind. The stories they told about how they became Topsy and Eva are all tempered by the fact that they appeared in response to press interviews. The most broadly distributed version appeared in The American Magazine in August, 1925. The sisters were established vaudeville stars by that time. 'A little more than two years ago,' Rosetta told an interviewer, 'a man came to us to see about doing something in motion pictures.' After several ideas were broached and dismissed, 'finally he said . . . "I guess we'll have to black you up."'
UTC & Slavery Along with works of art and literature that were banned, confiscated or burned, the Nazi intrusion in German life also extended to music and entertainment. Both swing and jazz were banned, demonized as "degenerate", labeled as "Nigger-Kike" music. Nightclubs and record stores were raided to smash the perpetuation of them and the dissuade interest through fear and terror. Similarly, forms of theatre such as Cabaret and Vaudeville were also deemed as such, with night clubs and theatres who housed such performances either raided or shut down. The term "Swing Heil" Manson sung in Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag was a mantra coined during this time period, as a mockery toward the Nazi "Sieg Heil" which sought to smash and efface them. Two films which portray this quite well are Swing Kids and Cabaret, more of which can be read about in The CELLULOID section.