While art does not always mirror the social or political conditions of a country – nor should it necessarily – there is no doubt that the work created by artists in 1920s Berlin is a sober reflection of and on a tumultuous era. Much of it was later classified as degenerate art by the Nazis, whose idea of art – at least as it should be produced within the Fatherland – was that of an insipid realism or pseudo-classicism, similar to that decreed in Stalin’s Soviet Union.

Of course, the powers-that-be in Germany during the Nazi rule did not hesitate to collect a great deal of what they officially considered degenerate. They even put it on show to re-educate the people so they would know how debasing art looks. If we did not know the end result of those fateful 12 years of Nazi rule, it might even seem comical that these works were put on display for all to see, for they probably educated far more people than they re-educated. Proof of this is the speed with which Germans re-embraced modern art after 1945. But, when Adolf Hitler spoke the following: "Anybody who paints and sees a sky green and pastures blue ought to be sterilized," German artists were not in a laughing mood.

There was considerable hypocrisy among the Nazi elite. Wherever their hordes descended, they stole great artworks and hoarded them in various locations in Germany and Austria, among them highly valuable, but supposedly depraved art. As their persecution of Germans of Jewish faith or ancestry increased, so did the Nazi collection of fine art, stolen from their hapless victims.

One collection of art the Nazis never managed to acquire is a record of that 1920s-to-early-'30s period, in which the social dislocation, monetary devaluation, and political uncertainty is mirrored, namely those very expressive self-portraits at Hart House. Gathered by Siegbert Feldberg, a lawyer by education and men's clothing manufacturer by occupation, these self-portraits on paper escaped the attention of the morality police – if one may call it that – and found its way out of Germany in 1939. We are the benefactors of this escape.

Many of the artists in the Feldberg Collection can be classified as having worked in the genre of German Expressionism. Certainly Erich Heckel, a member of "Die Brücke" (The Bridge), Oskar Kokoschka and Käthe Kollwitz were associated with this art movement. But, regardless of what the style chosen by the artist, these self-portraits have a way of gripping the viewer in an extra-ordinary way.

One need not know that many of these portraitists were either hounded out of Germany or into artistic oblivion in that country, and that a number died in concentration camps. It is clear from most of these works that they are a product of an irrational time. Germany in the '20s and early '30s was not only in the grip of social and political unrest, a country trying to experiment with a new form of government – democracy – but also one of great poverty. The portraits reveal this uncertain time in the manner in which the artists chose to portray themselves. But, none, I am sure, foresaw what was to come in 1933 when they created these portraits. They are, therefore, for me not a forewarning, but a reflection of an unsettled time.

Feldberg, a highly cultured man, came upon the idea that he could help a circle of artists he knew by offering them much needed clothing in exchange for artwork. Eventually the word spread and drew a far wider number into that barter circle.

Although it is not clear why or when Feldberg decided on the subject of self-portraiture, there is no doubt that he must have started his collection well before the exchange began. The highly valuable works by Kollwitz and Kokoschka not only predate the start of the bartering of clothing for art, but like August Wilhelm Dressler's reflective self-portrait, they are by then already famous artists, whose creations were highly priced and prized. They would hardly have agreed to let their work go for mere clothing.

Feldberg's collection comes to an end in 1933, when Hitler gains power. A year later, having read Mein Kampf, and having witnessed the manner of treatment accorded Germans of Jewish faith, Feldberg decided to open a factory in India. He left his wife Hilde and two sons behind. But, after the November 1938 pogrom of Kristallnacht (night of broken glass), it became clear that the family must also leave. In March 1939 Hilde and her two sons finally left for Genoa, from where they took a ship to India. With them came her beloved grand piano and Siegbert's art collection.

Despite what happened to the Feldbergs, who not only had to leave Germany, but also lost family members in concentration camps, they remained essentially German. After a successful life in India, and after partition, in Pakistan, they returned to Berlin in 1963. Life, however, had changed in that city and so they settled in Lugano, Switzerland. But, Feldberg always wanted his collection to find a home in Germany. He died in 1971 during a visit to Germany and so never saw his wish fulfilled. His wife sold the collection to the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, which had been established the year prior. She left Switzerland in 1992 at age 90 to settle in Edmonton, where one of her son's had moved. She died in 1996.

The exhibition at Hart House is the first ever of the complete portrait collection outside the Berlinische Galerie. A small number of the collected works were put on show in Bonn in 1978 at the Federal Chancellery. The present exhibit is being shown as part of an international symposium at the U of T, where it will be discussed under the title of Mirror or Mask. When the show closes on June 26, it will move on to Boston College, Boston, MA, where it will go on view in the fall.

Time is needed to view these works, and a need to disassociate it with the historical facts we now know. They are self-studies of individuals, who have taken a close look at themselves and then revealed themselves willingly to us. Some mock us, others mock themselves, some display considerable personal sorrow in their eyes and features, yet others look at us with great confidence.