LATE 20TH CENTURY POLITICAL GRAFFITI ART

The Berlin Wall - Vanishing Canvas of 20th Century Political Protest Art

In 1976 East German Border Troops begun to erect a new typ of Wall in Berlin, the so-called 'Border Wall 75'. This concrete Wall was 3.60 meters high (11.81 ft) and painted solid white. Although graffiti was not allowed (the complete Wall system was on the territory of East Berlin), many artists begun to paint on the Western side of the Wall in the beginning of the 1980s.

Artists like Taylor Anne Smith and Keith Haring discovered the Berlin Wall as the world's longest canvas which had to be painted. Many known and unknown artists painted on the Wall in the following years and the paintings were often painted over within hours or days. During this tumultuous period of political repression and ultimate upheaval, the Berlin Wall was one of the world's greatest art galleries becoming in essence a stage for politically motivated performance art. The Wall art was not protected, everybody could paint on the Wall. On the Western side of the Berlin Wall the massive concrete structure was colorful whereas the Eastern side was white or grey.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the Eastern side of the Wall was also painted by artists.

Today only a few painted sections of the Eastern side of the former Berlin Wall still exist at Potsdamer Platz, the East Side Gallery at Mühlenstrasse and in the Wall Park at Bernauer Strasse.

Painting on remaining sections of the Wall has become very difficult. The Wall at East Side Gallery has been listing and painting is prohibited. It is currently forbidden to paint over the existing paintings, however sometimes artists try to paint on the East Side Gallery without permisson. At Bernauer Strasse the City of Berlin takes care that the former Wall remains grey, however the sections on the Wall Park at Bernauer Strasse are painted regularly.

ADDITIONAL INSIGHT INTO BERLIN WALL ART

Demands for reform brought down the bulk of the Berlin Wall, but pollution, vandals and developers threaten the few remaining concrete blocks.

Less than a mile remained (as of summer 2001) of the structure that, as recently as 1990, ran nearly 70 miles long and separated communist East Berlin and West Berlin.

East German government officials started building the wall in 1961 to keep their citizens from fleeing to the West. For nearly 30 years, they fortified it with trenches, barbed wire, a second wall and armed guards.

In 1989, the communist regime and the wall came tumbling down, precipitating a flood of East Germans heading west. A trickle of artists from around the world took their place, applying a riot of color to the remains of the once grim, gray divider.

The longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall -- 1.3 kilometers (0.8 mile) long -- is known as the East Side Gallery.

But the wall and its art are now under threat from Berlin's hot summers and icy winters, pollution, humidity and dust that creeps beneath the paint.

What the elements don't touch, vandals do. And developers, who have long hoped to create a park and a residential complex on the site, are waiting in the wings. They have said their plans include preserving the East Side Gallery, but there is no guarantee.



"I hope this resource has helped you understand more about the Modern Art of the 20th Century which has inspired me!" - Taylor Anne Smith


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