"The Romantic Spirit in German Art: 1790-1990." (Hayward Gallery, London, England)

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HAYWARD GALLERY

Though assembled under the sign of Romanticism, "The Romantic Spirit in German Art: 1790-1990," was not exclusively, or even principally, about the Romantic period in German art and its legacy; it was really about the recent reunification of Germany. Here Romanticism has been transformed into a Masonic cult, a kind of Virtual Romanticism--more an agent of German simplification than unification. This is not to deny that Romanticism figured as a source of expression for artists far afield of the period from the late 18th to the early 19th century, but such an argument is anything but self-evident from the works on view; so you had better buy the catalogue and study …