Christian Schad (1894?1982) is considered one of the most important representatives of Neue Sachlich?keit (New Objectivity). Sometimes realistic to the point of exaggeration, his famous portraits mirror Society in the ?Golden Twenties? on the edge of political upheaval and social injustice. The radical and unique character of his images of artists, leading citizens, aristocrats and other cultural figures have had an influence on a diverse range of realistic tendencies in art to this very day. Schad?s ?uvre is characterized by constant experimentation, an ongoing dialogue with artistic tradition, and innovation. In Switzerland, where he fled to avoid military service in 1915, he joined the Dada Movement. In this avant-garde context he began to create his Schadographs (photographs made without a camera or alens), which were already featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1937....

During World War 2 the Neues Museum was almost completely destroyed. Now, on the Berlin Museum Island with its tremendous diversity of demands for the restoration it has become the classic example for the preservation of historic monuments. It is rebuilt due to the plans of the world renown architect David Chipperfield. The great reopening of this building (a main work of the Schinkel scholar Friedrich August Stueler) is scheduled for March 2009. The present book shows the history from its origins under Frederic Wilhelm IV of Prussia, the various phases of conversation and restoration of the war-ruin during the different systems after war to the considerations of preservation, modern building technique and current utilization....