Tingel-Tangel II

The stated ambition of the Die Brücke Expressionist artists was to bring art and modern life into harmony. Themes of urban entertainment appeared often in their work, especially after Brücke members relocated to Berlin. A “Tingel-Tangel” was a lower- class dance hall/cabaret whose female performers, dancing a form of cancan, usually doubled as prostitutes. Open sexuality was part of the appeal, especially at the evening performances. Although created and first printed in 1907, this print has subject matter in keeping with the art of the Weimar period (1918–33), between the world wars—a time of great social, political, and cultural change in post-World War I Germany. As the work of Expressionists such as Nolde foreshadowed, the art of the Weimar period was closely intertwined with Germany’s political and social landscape and was often intended as a means of critiquing German society. Whether simply seated, as in Nolde’s print, or performing, female Tingel-Tangel dancers appeared on stage to serve as an embodied catalogue of the women available to the male dance hall customer. Left-wing critics and artists viewed this process as an apt emblem of the capitalist debasement of humanity, while the right wing—with which Nolde allied himself—saw it as an example of the modern urban institutions threatening German morality.

Resource: Allison Morehead, “‘The Theatre of the Infinite’: Performing Identity in Weimar Germany,” Confronting Identities in German Art, by Reinhold Heller, exh. cat. David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago: 2003, p. 95-97.