Neues Volk 1943 / Kalender des Rassenpolitischen Amtes der NSDAP 1943

This calendar, Neues Volk, was made in 1943. When I look at this calendar, I think about what it would have been like to create this image under such a regime. Did the artist put all their energy into making this idealized portrait, with its soft skin tones and carefully arranged curls? Or did they feel constrained by the project's intention? In this portrait, the thin, deliberate strokes that define the young woman's face give her an almost ethereal quality. The colour palette is muted, yet there's a certain warmth in the blonde hair that contrasts with the cool detachment of her gaze. You can almost feel the tension between the imposed ideal and the reality of wartime existence. It reminds us that art, even in its most controlled forms, carries the weight of history and human experience.