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 International Marxism - Thale, Germany
N 51° 44.756 E 011° 01.770
32U E 640106 N 5734730
one of the last remaining large murals of East Germany's communist past.
Waymark Code: WMPXG5
Location: Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
Date Posted: 11/04/2015
Views: 11
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This kind of art was called Socialist Realism. It was not so much art as it was propaganda, advertising socialism as the only form of society, in which people were truly free and happy.
Since reality in the communist countries of the Eastern Bloc was a far cry from the advertised ideal, those pieces of art were not very well liked within the population and after the fall of the communist governments most of them were demolished.
Only a few pieces remained. They are now considered unique symbols of a time future generations will have trouble to understand.
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This is one of the few remaining large ones. It has the prosaic title
The International Scope of the Advance of Marxisms-Leninism
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Painter and metal artist Willi Neubert created a number of murals like this one, which earned him the nick name "The drummer and piper of the revolution." Having been a steel worker turned artist, he created a technology in which small plates of enamel were put together to large, mural like mosaics. Of all the pieces he created, this is the only one that survived the demolition era.
The 25 x 7 meters (23x82 feet) larger mural was created in 1978 for the conference center in Suhl. in 2010, at the artist's 90th birthday, it was transferred to his home town Thale and put on display at the wall of the (now abandoned) iron and steel works where he created most of his murals.
A newspaper article (unfortunately only in German) tells the history of the mural and gives a brief biography of the artist, who died in 2011, shortly after witnessing his only surviving piece coming full circle.
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From guitars being on fire for the revolution over Viet Cong fighters, happy East German families, the first Russian Sputnik, and a hopeful African continent, all the way to Picasso's Peace Dove, the artist managed to include every single socialist cliché in one single, monumental creation, which makes this surviving piece of socialist realism a true contemporary witness.
We discovered it on a foggy, rainy day, thus our two pictures lack some quality. Wikipedia has a large image of the mural.
Click HERE.
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City: Thale, Germany
Location Name: Thale Iron and Steel Works
Artist: Willi Neubert
Date: 1978
Media: vitreous enamel coating on iron
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and description of your visit. One original photo of the mural must also be submitted. GPSr photo NOT required.
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