Christian Schad – Liebende Knaben (1929)

Louisiana print with the work, Liebende Knaben , Elskende drenge , (1929), by the German artist, Christian Schad, (1894-1982). The poster was published in 2022 in connection with Louisiana's exhibition on Germany in the 1920s, The Cold Eye. Schad's work is a good illustration of the artistic interest in the fluid boundaries between gender and sexuality that flourished in 1920s Berlin.

In Germany, gender roles change with the end of World War I. Women gain the right to vote in 1918 and a greater foothold in the labor market. Artists are interested in these changes and, with an almost sociological perspective, they construct a category of the liberated, Neue Frau – The New Woman. The woman is often depicted androgynously with masculine features, short page, cigarette, shirt, perhaps a tie, and a flat torso.

In nightclubs in Berlin, for example the famous Eldorado, a significant subculture emerges among transgender and homosexuals, which the police turn a blind eye to - and which is depicted by the artists of the period.

Read more about the exhibition here.