German Expressionist Art First half of the 20 th century

Figure 35-5 ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER, Street, Dresden, 1908 (dated 1907). Oil on canvas, 4’ 11 1/4” x 6’ 6 7/8”. Museum of Modern Art, New York. German Expressionism Die Brucke ( the bridge) Distortions of form, ragged outline and agitated brushstrokes. Influenced by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Figure 35-5 ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER, Street, Dresden, 1908 (dated 1907). Oil on canvas, 4’ 11 1/4” x 6’ 6 7/8”. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Die Brucke (the Bridge), first German Expressionistic group under leadership of Ernst Kirchner; their idea was to “bridge” the old age with the new. Kirchner admired German medieval art and the group modeled themselves on the ideas of medieval craft guilds by living and working together – while practicing all the arts. Die Brucke – protested the hypocrisy and materialistic decadence of those in power; focusing on the negative effects of industrialization (alienation of citizens in cities) which also fostered a mechanized and impersonal society. 3

Figure 35-9 KATHE KOLLWITZ, Woman with Dead Child, Etching and soft-ground etching, overprinted lithographically with a gold tone plate, 1’ 4 5/8” X 1’ 7 1/8”. British Museum, London. Kathe Kollwitz worked in a variety of printmaking techniques (woodcut, lithography, etching). Explored in depth the mother and dead child image frequently. Her son died at 21 in WW1. 4

Figure WILHELM LEHMBRUCK, Seated Youth, Composite tinted plaster, 3’ 4 5/8” x 2’ 6” x 3’ 9”. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Andrew W. Mellon Fund). 5

Figure 35-6 EMIL NOLDE, Saint Mary of Egypt among Sinners, Left panel of a triptych, oil on canvas, approx. 2’ 10” x 3’ 3”. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg. 6

Figure 35-7 VASSILY KANDINSKY, Improvisation 28 (second version), Oil on canvas, 3’ 7 7/8” x 5’ 3 7/8”. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (gift of Solomon R. Guggenheim, 1937). Vassily Kandinsky was one of the first to explore complete abstraction. Kandinsky was an intellectual who understood much of atomic structure convincing him that material objects had no real substance – this shattered his belief in a tangible world. 7

Figure 35-8 FRANZ MARC, Fate of the Animals, Oil on canvas, 6’ 4 3/4” x 8’ 9 1/2”. Kunstmuseum, Basel. 8

Figure MAX BECKMANN, Night, 1918–1919. Oil on canvas, 4’ 4 3/8” x 5’ 1/4”. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Neue Sachlichkeit ( German for New Objectivity) The 2 nd German Expressionist Movement. Clear eyed, honest view of war and its effects. These artists were German veterans of World War I.

Figure GEORGE GROSZ, Fit for Active Service, 1916–1917. Pen and brush and ink on paper, 1’ 8” x 1’ 2 3/8”. Museum of Modern Art, New York (gift of the American Tobacco Company, Inc.). Art © Estate of George Grosz/Licensed by VAGA, New York. 10

Figure MAX BECKMANN, Night, 1918–1919. Oil on canvas, 4’ 4 3/8” x 5’ 1/4”. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Max Beckmann grew increasingly disillusioned about war and society as a whole. Although the image doesn’t directly depict a was scene, the violence and wrenching brutality pervade the family home are a searing commentary on society’s condition. 11

Figure OTTO DIX, Der Krieg (The War), 1929–1932. Oil and tempera on wood, 6’ 8 1/3” x 13’ 4 3/4”. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister, Dresden. 12

Figure 23-2a MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, Isenheim Altarpiece (closed, top; open, bottom), from the chapel of the Hospital of Saint Anthony, Isenheim, Germany, ca.1510–1515. Oil on wood, 9' 9 1/2” x 10’ 9”, (center panel), 8’ 2 1/2” x 3’ 1/2” (each wing), 2’ 5 1/2” x 11’ 2” (predella). Shrine carved by Nikolaus Hagenauer in Painted and gilt limewood, 9’ 9 1/2” x 10’ 9”. Musée d’Unterlinden, Colmar.

Figure ERNST BARLACH, War Monument, Cathedral, Güstrow, Germany, Bronze. 14 A WWI memorial of a human form floating above a tomb suggesting a dying soul at the moment it is about to awaken to everlasting life Originally created for a cathedral in his hometown in Germany, Barlach’s sculpture was melted down in 1937 for ammunition by the Nazi’s when they saw how powerful a symbol it was; fortunately, a friend hid another copy so that today it hangs once again in the Gustrow cathedral.