Prelude to a Nightmare: Art, Politics, and Hitler’s Early Years in Vienna 1906-1913
July 13-October 27, 2002
press release
When Hitler moved to Vienna in 1908 at the age of eighteen, he was a provincial German nationalist who harbored dreams of becoming a great painter, architect, or set designer. He left for Munich five years later, an embittered drifter with racist views. Prelude to a Nightmare will look at the various aspects of the city’s art and culture Hitler encountered and will bring to light the ways he copied, misunderstood, and later exploited these experiences. Inspired largely by Brigitte Hamann’s critically acclaimed book Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship (1999), the exhibition will include approximately 275 paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, posters, theatrical designs, vintage film footage, photographs, books, pamphlets, and other examples of material culture. Organized by Deborah Rothschild, Curator of Exhibitions.

BUT IS IT REAL?
January 26-September 22, 2002
press release
This exhibit will include fakes, forgeries, copies, originals, and other works that explore notions of authenticity and how they impact a viewer’s aesthetic appreciation of an art object. But Is It Real? is on display in conjunction with the Williams College philosophy course, “Fake: A Pathway into the Philosophy of Art.” Organized by Stefanie Spray Jandl, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Associate, with Steven Gerrard, Associate Professor of Philosophy.