Vice city …
In the aftermath of the first world war, 1920s Berlin emerged as a place of high spirits and anguish. Or, as the taboo-busting androgynous nude dancer Anita Berber put it in one of her most famous expressionist routines, “Vice, Horror and Ecstasy”.
Get real …
Rudolf Schlichter’s prints and watercolours portray the denizens of the city’s night haunts. A pioneer of New Objectivity alongside George Grosz and Otto Dix, he captured its decadence with a potent brew of expressionism, realism and satire.
Independent women …
Women’s Club from 1925 depicts Topkeller, a lesbian club where Berber performed. Its crowd of “New Women” had recently been granted the vote; they sport cropped hair and blur gender boundaries with their dress.
Kinky boots …
The buttoned, knee-length, high-heeled boots were a predilection of Schlichter’s. As a student, he earned his crust making pornographic prints under an assumed name, and S&M-tinged erotica became a speciality.
Included in Into the Night: Cabarets & Clubs in Modern Art, Barbican Art Gallery, EC2, to 19 January
