New Objectivity’s critical stance replaced Expressionism’s collapsed optimism.

Evidence

The critical vision comes out of Dada and the disillusionments of the war and of the German Revolution; it is in effect a cooler and more sceptical counterpart to the optimistic humanitarianism of the Expressionists in the years 1916-19, and. as this began deflating it moved into the gap, to become known under the slightly misleading title of The New Objectivity. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 250