Die gute alte Zeit ("The Good Old Days")

1969

Die gute alte Zeit ("The Good Old Days"), 1969. R. B. Kitaj (American, 1932–2007). Screenprint and collage; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist 1984.146 © Marlborough Gallery, New York Born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, R. B. Kitaj designed this 1969 screenprint for a series about London during the Blitz, a prolonged German bombing campaign on British cities in 1940–41 during the Second World War. He juxtaposed old newspaper clippings, ephemera, and vintage wallpaper to evoke a nostalgic response to British solidarity in the face of the enemy. The collaged wallpaper, featuring designs from the war period, suggests both homes lost and cultural survival. A campaign poster for Adolf Hitler alongside another advertisement reading “Die gute alte Zeit,” or “The good old time,” remind viewers of the foe, but also call into question a cheery perception of the past.