Conceptions of war and of its uses, and the interaction of the arts with politics and ideology, are two different but often related areas of research in which Peter Paret, Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies, specializes.
Aspects of the work of the sculptor and dramatist Ernst Barlach, a major figure in German modernism, are the focus of Paret's talk "An Artist of and Against His Time," given on Marcy 4, 2009.
In his lecture, Paret notes, "As independent in his politics as in his art, [Barlach] opposed National Socialism on grounds of common decency, was included in the Degenerate Art Exhibition, and died in 1938 a forbidden but unrepentant modernist."
