Fascinating Fascism by Susan Sontag

 

 

“Fascist art displays a utopian aesthetics—that of physical perfection. Painters and sculptors under the Nazis often depicted the nude, but they were forbidden to show any bodily imperfections,” wrote Susan Sontag. 

We published her essay Fascinating Fascism in our February 6th, 1975 issue. This month we unlocked seven pieces from our 56 year archive for both subscribers and non-subscribers to revisit:

 “In contrast to the asexual chasteness of official communist art, Nazi art is both prurient and idealizing. A utopian aesthetics (identity as a biological given) implies an ideal eroticism (sexuality converted into the magnetism of leaders and the joy of followers). The fascist ideal is to transform sexual energy into a ‘spiritual’ force, for the benefit of the community. The erotic is always present as a temptation, with the most admirable response being a heroic repression of the sexual impulse.”

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