Mercker erich biography of michael

Dec. 05,

It is one of the thorniest questions for art historians: What are the moral obligations of artists working under repressive regimes?

Until recently, very little was known about Erich Mercker, a deft artist whose work served to glorify the power and might of the Third Reich.

But an exhibit and biography about the artist has brought new facts to light — including the artist's membership in the Nazi Party — allowing for such questions to be opened up.

The nature of Mercker's career during the Third Reich was raised in articles by my former colleague Whitney Gould and me when the Grohmann Museum opened in at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

At that time, Mercker was the most represented artist at the museum, which exhibited artists with Nazi ties without providing that historical context.

Art museum curators and scholars generally agree that exhibiting works made even to glorify