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NAZI ART MAGAZINE DIE KUNST IM DRITTEN - DEUTSCHEN REICH ALL 12 HEAVILY ILLUSTRATED 1939 ISSUES EDITION A & B

(text copyright © 2019 USM, Inc.)

The lot offered on this USMBOOKS web page contains ALL TWELVE of the Die Kunst im dritten / deutschen Reich magazines for the year 1939, all of which are in the most desirable Ausgabe B edition - OVER 1000 HEAVILY ILLUSTRATED PAGES! Each magazine measures 11 x 14 inches and contains ALL THE PAGES found in the more common "A" edition PLUS the magazine Die Baukunst (Architectural Art) bound in. 

The very heavily illustrated art magazine Die Kunst im dritten Reich (The Arts in the Third Reich) and Die Kunst im deutschen Reich (The Arts in the German Reich) was first published in January 1937 by Gauleiter Adolf Wagner.    

After the first six monthly issues the original small format was changed to a much larger 11 x 14 inch size and it was published at the direction of Adolf Hitler himself under the supervision of an extremely prestigious group of directors that included Professor Dr. Ing. Fritz Todt, Generalbauinspektor Professor Albert Speer of Berlin, Professor Richard Klein of the Academy of Applied Arts in München (Munich) and Professor Leonhard Gall of Studio Troost in München. In September 1939, the name of the magazine was changed from Die Kunst im dritten Reich to Die Kunst im deutschen Reich.

By 1939 the large magazine was huge is scope and right to the end it was published by Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachfolger (the Central Publishing House of the Nazi Party) on fine quality paper using the best available inks. Each of the new magazines had a cover featuring the stunning Professor Richard Klein profile of the Greek goddess Athena, a torch and a Nazi eagle and swastika. Huge full-page, full-color and black & white photographs dominated the format of "Die Kunst". Many of the pictures were never published elsewhere and most were never published in a larger or better format.

The July 1939 and September 1939 issues are the most sought after issues of "Die Kunst", with amazing special content on the exterior and interior of Die Neue Reichskanzlei; architect Albert Speer's remodeling and vast expansion of the Reichschancellery in Berlin. There is text by Speer, and page after page of full-page pictures showing many aspects of the building including the Voßstraße facades (left), monumental eagles and swastikas, statues by Arno Breker and Josef Thorak, the Mosaic Hall, the Round Hall, the Marble Gallery, the office of Adolf Hitler (below), the greenhouse, the SS guards, etc.

Main articles in other issues of Die Kunst im dritten/deutschen Reich in 1939 showcase heroic sculptures by Arno Breker for Adolf Hitler's New Reichschancellery, the Second German Artistic Handwork Exhibition in the House of German Art in Munich, the new facilities of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD or Nazi Labor Service) in Berlin designed by architect Kurt Heinrich Tischer (many interior and exterior photos), the development of German theater sets, Josef Wackerle sculptures, new enormous patriotic German wall paintings (many with National Socialist and military scenes), Japanese Art, sculptures by Richard Scheibe, the Munich Art Exhibition of 1939, modern German artistic wood cutting, sculptor Fritz Klimsch in his studio, architect Paul Schultze-Naumburg, color paintings by Paul Hermann of the construction of the new Reichskanzlei in Berlin, Das Haus des deutschen Rechts (The House of German Law) in Munich designed by architect Oswald Bieber (many interior and exterior photos), fancy book covers and bindings for special Nazi book and document presentation copies (several shown above and below), the grave of Heinrich der Löwe (Henry the Lion) in Braunschweig, the realistic art of Julius Paul Junghanns, and a wide variety of photographs of paintings, woodcuts and sculptures.

As mentioned above, all twelve issues in this lot are the "B" Edition with Die Baukunst, the heavily illustrated architecture supplement. Building projects shown (photos, architectural drawings and models) and described are the plannedthe Hohe Schule of the NSDAP on the Chiemsee (with spectacular architectural models by Hermann Giesler), Haus Elephant (the famous hotel in Weimar), the Ordensburg Sonthofen (photos and text by Dr. Robert Ley), Adolf Hitler Square in Weimar and Dresden, the Luftgaukommando in Dresden, future plans for the city of Frankfurt on the Oder (capital of Gau Mark Brandenburg), extensive building plans for die Stadt der Hermann-Göring-Werke and die Stadt des KdF-Wagens (new cities planned for employees at the Hermann-Göring-Werke and Volkswagen Factory (with 32 inch fold-out!), Gauhauptstadt Augsburg, the expansion of the Nazi Party Chancellery in Munich by Leonhard Gall, and Albert Speer's plans for the Zeppelinfield on the Nazi Party Days Grounds in Nuremberg, the building and traffic plans for the East-West Axis and Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Hitler's freeway system by Generalinspektor Dr.Ing. Fritz Todt (with 21 inch fold-out of Reichsautobahn bridge designs), the new AEG headquarters in Berlin, the German Embassy in St. Petersburg, new residential neighborhoods in Berlin-Charlottenburg, KdF cruise ships "Robert Ley" and "Wilhelm Gustloff", etc., etc.

Also shown is work by artists Elk Eber, Arno Breker, Josef Wackerle, Josef Thorak, Fritz Klimsch, Joseph Anton Koch, Professor Richard Klein, Hans Holbein, Rudolf Alt, Friedrich Stahl, Adolf Ziegler, Sepp Hilz, Wolf Willrich, Hans Goebl, Georg Müller, Erik Richter, Wilhelm Heise, Theodor Kärner, Hermann Gradl, Wilhelm Dachauer (his painting of the Mauthausen stone quarry is shown left), Arthur Kampf, Albrecht Dürer, Georg Kolbe, Hans Thoma, Hans von Kulmbach, Hubert Netzer, Anton Müller, and many, many others.

Many pieces of art that were on display at the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung held in the House of German Art in Munich in 1939 are pictured and this lot also contains the rare (often-missing) three-panel (30+ inch) color fold-out of the Festzug, the elaborate parade that was part of the "2000 Jahre deutsche Kunst" art festival in Munich.  Each issue ends with a monthly Kunstausstellungkalender or Calendar for Art Exhibitions in Greater Germany.

The photos right and below, are from the superb May 1939 issue of Die Kunst im dritten Reich and show the extensive plans by architect Leonhard Gall of Atelier Troost for the Nazi Party Chancellery and Führerbau on the Königsplatz in Munich.

Only the "B" edition also contains advertising of companies that supplied equipment and materials for the enormous Reichschancellery project: Siemens, Zeiss-Ikon, Hochtief, Philipp Holzmann, Otis elevators, Mauser air raid shelter doors, granite and marble companies, as well as ads for lighting, furniture, doors, kitchen equipment, heating, electricity, etc.

The name and date labels on the spines are taped to the spine - see picture at the top of this USMBOOKS web page.

All twelve issues combined are about 3-5/8 inches thick, weigh 18 pounds and contain 1,032 pages; 408 on art, 495 on architecture and 130 pages of advertising.

This lot also contains two separate and very rare Inhaltsverzeichnis or Indexes for the year. The Indexes (shown left) have been laminated by a previous owner. We did not find any writing or cut-out photos in any of these magazines. They have been stored in low humidity at 5000 ft (1500 m) elevation for decades, so the content is very dry and has no perceptible odor.

These twelve 1939 issues of Die Kunst im Dritten Reich Ausgabe A (remember, each copy of Edition A contains ONLY the art and not the architecture magazine) weigh weigh 11 pounds and are ** SOLD **

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