German expressionism blue rider

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ART HISTORY 4450 German Expressionism: Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)

Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”) •

significance: pinnacle of German Expressionist painting

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aim:

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name: – derived from Kandinsky’s drawing that appeared on cover of Almanac featuring a blue horseman – blue also happened to be Marc's favorite color – motif of horse was for Marc, along w/ Kandinsky, particular favorite subject

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exhibition history: established in December 1911 – launched in Munich to coincide with the last show by increasing conservatism of Neue Künstlervereinigung (NKV) • featured 43 artists, including: Delaunay, Macke and Henri Rousseau – second exhibition opened in 1912, again in Munich • grander scale • 315 works by 31 artists, including: Picasso, Braque, Klee and Goncharova – Kandinsky, Marc, Macke and Klee went on to exhibit together at influential “First German Salon d’Automne” in Berlin (1913)

to ensure exhibition space for artists dedicated to unrestricted freedom of expression

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Kandinsky (1866-1944) •

significance: founder of abstract art

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biography: – influence of music in his paintings cannot be overstated • parents played piano zither • K learned piano & cello at an early age – enrolled at University of Moscow (1886) • studied law & economics – lectured at Moscow Faculty of Law • enjoyed success as a teacher • wrote extensively on spirituality – attended French Impressionist exhibition (1895) – left Moscow for Munich to study lifedrawing, sketching & anatomy (1897)

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exhibition history: – throughout Europe from 1903 onwards – often caused controversy among public, art critics, and contemporaries

Der Blaue Reiter •

Kandinsky

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fascinated by music's emotional power: • expresses itself through sound and time • allows listener freedom of imagination & interpretation • not based on literal or descriptive qualities; instead, abstract

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an accomplished musician: • link between color and musical harmony – color  keyboard – eyes  harmonies – soul  piano with many strings • used color in a highly theoretical way – associating tone with timbre (the sound’s character) – hue with pitch – saturation with volume – even claimed he saw color he heard music

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relate to Schönberg’s innovations: (e.g, First String Quartet 1905) • abandons tonal and harmonic conventions • radically opens musical compositional structures – chromatic structure defined as a “developing variation” » continual evolution and transformation of thematic substance » rejects thematic repetition » constant unfolding of an unbroken musical argument » no recourse to svmmetrical balances of equal phrases or sections • effect: endows work w/ totally unconventional psychological depth

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German Expressionism: Der Blaue Reiter • Kandinsky’s “On the Spiritual in Art” (December 1911) – –

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treatise about non-objectivity; saw it as future for innovative visual art based on artist’s own emotions, rather than objective reality or materialism (re: Impressionism) • “interior necessity” • intuition vs. rationality form: outward visual expression of artist’s inward needs color: liberated from form (see Fauvism) composition: described in overtly musical terms • 1) “melodic” – simple; subordinated to a clearly apparent simple form (e.g., geometrical forms or simple lines that create general movement – Cezanne’s Large Bathers)

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• 2) “symphonic” – complex; consisting of several forms, again subordinated to an obvious or concealed principal form – principal form may externally be very hard to find – inner basis assumes a particularly powerful tone conclusion: resorts to a musical metaphor to describe deliberately cloaked pictorial construction of form and color

Kandinsky’s Composition IV (1911)

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Kandinsky •

Improvisation #31 (Sea Battle) – – – –

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date: 1913 aesthetic: non-objective spatial order: no sense of linear perspective forms: abstracted • does not utilize Cubo-Futurist technique of fracturing forms • motif: two tall ships shooting cannonballs at each other narrative: does not explicitly show sea battle effect: allows viewer to experience one • confusion  composition • courage  brushwork • excitement  color • motion  forms

Kandinsky’s Composition VII (1913)

• significance: pinnacle of Kandinsky's pre-WWI artistic achievement • process: deliberate – involved over 30 preparatory drawings, watercolors & oil studies – executed actual painting in less than four days • themes: combines Resurrection, Last Judgment, Deluge & Garden of Love

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Kandinsky • Composition VIII (1923) – –

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theme: moves from apocalyptic emotion to geometrical rhythm aesthetic: influence of Russian Suprematism/Constructivism • absorbed by K while in Russia prior to his return to Germany to teach at Bauhaus form: assumes greater compositional role than color composition. dynamic color: uses different colors w/in forms to energize their geometry spatial order: undefined space • background enhances dynamism • layered colors define depth • forms recede & advance creating push-pull effect

Franz Marc (1880-1916) •

biography: – father  professional landscape painter – originally a theology student – trained at Munich Academy of Art – travels to Paris (1903) where he spends several months, also visiting Brittany • excited by Impressionists – runs away to Paris, abandoning fiancé day before marriage ceremony (1907) – return to Paris: • again entranced by Impressionists • discovers work of Gauguin and Van Gogh • began intensive study of animals which lead to his mature style • meets August Macke – Introduces him to Fauves – views Matisse exhibit – introduces M to future patron – WWI: volunteers; dies near Verdun

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Marc •

Blue Horse (1911) –

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aesthetic::mature style • mixture of Romanticism, Expressionism and Symbolism motif: animal • purity and communion w/ nature that humans had lost • “the irreligious humanity which lived all around me did not excite my true feelings, whereas the virgin feeling for life of the animal world set alight everything good in me” spatial order: 3-d perspective: linear & aerial light/shadow: establishes volume vs. fracturing form & space color: emotional values • blue  male principle – astringent and spiritual • yellow  female principle – gentle and spiritual • red  matter – brutal and heavy – always opposed/overcome

Marc •

Tiger (1912) – – – –

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motif: female (yellow) messenger of a higher spiritual world forms: proto-Cubist analysis of planes spatial order: foreshortening indicates perspective perspective: • linear  natural forms • aerial  slight indication of sky light/shadow: models vs. fractures forms composition: dynamic color: vibrant, luminous & complimentary

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Marc’s Fate of the Animals (1913)

Marc’s Fighting Forms (1914)

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Macke (1887-1914) •

biography: – one of founders of Der Blaue Reiter – son of an engineer – training: • educated at Academy and Kunstgewerbeschule in Düsseldorf • designed costumes & sceneries – travels to Italy, Holland, Belgium and Paris (1905) – meets Marc (c. 1905-10) – meets Kandinsky (1910) – travels to Paris w/ Marc to meet Delaunay (1912) – moves to Switzerland (1913); meets Klee – travels to Tunisia w/ Klee (1914) – WWI: joins army; killed in action

Macke •

Lady in a Green Jacket (1913) –

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aesthetic: “joyful living through of nature” • influence of Matisse – saw exhibition of his work in Munich (1911) – confirmed his love of brilliant color & simplified form meaning: never shared Kandinsky & Marc’s tendency to mystical or metaphysical considerations spatial order: illusionistic (3-d) brushwork: patchy forms: planes distinguished by adjacent hues of color color: vibrant & luminous • unlike Marc, did not attribute abstract values and significances • used them solely to express personal feelings and ideas • influence of Delaunay

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Macke’s Window Shopping (1913)

Macke •

Cathedral (1914) – – –

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aesthetic: illusionistic perspective: linear & aerial forms: abstracted • does not utilize Cubo-Futurist or Orphist fracturing technique • abbreviated geometric volumes composition: • stabilizing element of principal motif placed along CVA • enlivening arrangement of curving, elevated road color: accents of vibrant primaries heighten naturalistic hues light/shadow: does not fracture forms

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IMAGE INDEX •

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KANDINSKY, Wassily. Sketch for the Blaue Reiter Almanac (1911), Watercolor, 11 3/8 x 8 ¼ in.

Photograph of Wassily KANDINSKY. KANDINSKY, Vassily. Composition IV (1911).

KANDINSKY, Vassily. Improvisation XXXI: Sea Battle (1913), Oil on canvas, 57 x 47 in., Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. KANDINSKY, Vassily. Composition VII (1913), Oil on canvas, 6’ 6 ¾ in. x 9’ 11 1/8 in., Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

KANDINSKY, Vassily. Composition VIII (1923), Oil on canvas, 55 1/8 x 79 1/8 in., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

MACKE, August. Portrait of Franz Marc (1910), Oil on canvas, Nationalgalarie, Berlin.

MARC, Franz. Blue Horse (1911), Oil on canvas, Oil on canvas, 112.5 x 84.5 cm., Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.

IMAGE INDEX •

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MARC, Franz. Tiger (1912), Oil on canvas, 111.5 x 111.5 cm., Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany.

MARC, Franz. The Fate of the Animals (1913), Oil on canvas, 196 x 266 cm., Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland.

MARC, Franz. Fighting Forms (1914), Oil on canvas, 91 x 131 cm., Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich.

MACKE, August. Self-Portrait with Hat (1909).

MACKE, August. Lady in a Green Jacket (1913), Oil on canvas, 44 x 43.5 cm., Museum Ludwig, Cologne.

MACKE, August. Kathedrale zu Freiburg in der Schweiz (1914), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf.

MACKE, August. Das Modegeschäft (1913), Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 61 cm., Westfalisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münich.

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