New at the Leopold Museum: Focus Exhibition German Expressionism

24.06.2024

Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Kirchner, Modersohn-Becker, Münter and Others Enter into an Imaginary Dialogue with Austrian Expressionists

From Die Brücke to Der Blaue Reiter: Based on 17 masterpieces from eminent private collections and the Leopold Collection – by artists including Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter, Lovis Corinth, Wassily Kandinsky and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner – the Leopold Museum is presenting a stunning selection of paintings of German Expressionism.

The current focus exhibition German Expressionism, shown as part of the permanent presentation Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism – which features precious permanent loans from private collections and is complemented with select works from the collection of the Leopold Museum – affords diverse insights into the various forms of Expressionism in Germany from the first two decades of the 20th century. 17 high-quality works by Lovis Corinth, Marianne von Werefkin, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, Erich Heckel and August Macke are juxtaposed for first time within such a focused setting as part of the Leopold Museum’s permanent presentation.

“The art of German Expressionism is characterized by an expressive reduction of painterly means and a radical simplification of forms and colors. Impulses derived from the repertoire of forms of non-European, indigenous art and local folk art, inspiration from the French avant-garde, including the Nabis and the Fauvists, as well as independent positions by Paula Modersohn-Becker, complete the picture of a highly diverse art movement. Both German and Austrian Expressionists questioned and extended the concept of beauty in a radical manner. United under one roof, both artistic directions enter into an imaginary dialogue, made possible thanks to the generous support from international private collectors.”
Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Director of the Leopold Museum

Expressionism

The term Expressionism was first used in Germany in 1911 in the preface of the catalogue accompanying the 22nd Exhibition of the Berlin Secession in the context of works by young French artists. The local phenomenon of German Expressionism was rooted in the negative side effects of the rapid economic progress that characterized the first decades of the 20th century. The downsides of industrialization inevitably led to social conflicts. The increasing estrangement from nature and spirituality resulted in a longing for originality, introspection and free expression, providing a hotbed for Expressionism in Wilhelmine Germany. The Expressionist art encompassed radical reactions to Impressionism and conservative academic traditions. In terms of their liberal handling of colors and forms, the Expressionists took inspiration from the French artists’ group Les Nabis (the “prophets”), from the Fauves (the “wild”) surrounding Henri Matisse, as well as from the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. They further derived impulses from non-European, indigenous art and from local folk art, including reverse glass painting.

Emphases of the Focus Exhibition

The exhibition German Expressionism presents select works by artists belonging to the Dresden artists’ association Die Brücke, which emerged in 1905 in the environs of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Fritz Bleyl and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The artists revolted against Impressionism and the rendering of the external world according to traditional rules. As part of a nature-related life reform, art was supposed to “provide the freedom” to “represent that which urges us to create in a direct and genuine manner” (Kirchner, 1906). The painters from the environs of the Munich almanac Der Blaue Reiter – among them Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke, Gabriele Münter, Marianne von Werefkin and Alexej von Jawlensky – embarked on a quest for a new introspection in art. Their works are characterized by clear contours, while the at times intense colors became increasingly detached from the object. A singular position was occupied by Paula Modersohn-Becker who features in the focus presentation with five works. The painting Walchensee Landscape by Lovis Corinth from the artist’s late oeuvre, meanwhile, illustrates the painter’s journey from Impressionism to Expressionism.

Expressionism in Germany and Austria

The proximity of the focus exhibition on German Expressionism within the Leopold Museum to examples of Austrian expressive art – by artists from Richard Gerstl, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele and Max Oppenheimer to Anton Kolig, Anton Faistauer and Herbert Boeckl – allows for an especially vivid comparison of the country-specific variants of Expressionism. For it is precisely the art of Austrian Expressionism – along with examples of Secessionist art production in Vienna around 1900 – which features as a particular highlight within the permanent presentation Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism. The Leopold Museum houses the world’s largest collection of works by the pioneer of Expressionism Richard Gerstl and by Egon Schiele – one of the most important Austrian protagonists of this art movement. Additionally, the museum holds some eminent works of German Impressionism and Expressionism by artists including Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

The Viennese artists’ associations, most notably the Secession and the Hagenbund, pursued and active, network-oriented invitation policy, intently followed the developments on the European art scene and showed presentations by ground-breaking artists. The Künstlerhaus hosted the artist Franz von Stuck (1899), while the Secession invited Auguste Rodin (1901), Max Klinger (1899, 1902) and Ferdinand Hodler (1904) to present their works. This is one of the reasons why the Leopold Museum is keen to present Austrian art of the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century within an international context. Select works by Stuck, Rodin, Klinger, Hodler and others – from the collection and as permanent loans – are continually on display at the Leopold Museum.

The Works in Detail

One of the key works of the presentation is the painting Nudes in the Studio by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, created in 1912. It is among the most eminent works of the Leopold Museum’s collection. The artist staged scantily clad or naked female models assuming various postures in his Berlin studio. Using powerful color contrasts, he rendered the figures with angular shapes, fragmenting what he saw. Also on display in the focus exhibition is his depiction of the Bay on the Coast of Fehmarn, created the same year. The artist spent several summers on this island off the Baltic coast, which is the third largest in Germany after Rügen and Usedom. These stays greatly stimulated his artistic output. The work Seated Female Nude by Erich Heckel was created around 1910, likely in connection with one of his summer sojourns in the region of the Moritzburg Lakes near Dresden. The composition is dominated by the bold yellow of the body outlined with red, which is contrasted with the green of the meadow and the light-colored blanket spread out underneath the depicted. Max Pechstein’s Young Lady with Feather Hat (1910) was created at the artist’s Berlin studio. The orange-red hues of the interior catch the eye and enter into a visual competition with the depicted’s impressive headdress.

Further featured in the presentation is the red Church Spire, created around 1912, by Marianne Werefkin, which soars in rivalry with the three snow-covered Alpine mountain peaks. In this rendering, everything seems to be thrown out of kilter. Lovis Corinth used a similar composition for his work Walchensee Landscape, from the artist’s late oeuvre, created in 1923 in his refuge in the Bavarian town of Kochel am See. Works such as this one illustrate the artist’s transition from Impressionism towards Expressionism. The slanted structure of the composition invests the work with a vibrant quality on account of the diagonally applied brushstrokes. The Hotel Fischer am See, the surface of the water, the mountains – everything appears to oscillate and vibrate. Corinth’s painting Portrait of Alfred Kuhn (1923), too, boasts a diagonal alignment. His likeness of the art historian, painted with hasty, expressive brushstrokes, captivates with its sense of immediacy, which the artist achieved through the nuanced earth tones and the contrasts of light and dark. Alexej von Jawlensky features in the focus exhibition with two female likenesses. The physiognomy of the Girl with Green Stole (1909/10) is reduced to a mask, while the dark blue dress and green shawl provide a marked contrast. Jawlensky explored the subject of portraits of women from various cultural milieus for an extended period of time. His 1913 work Large Head of a Woman (Manola) shows a Spanish-looking lady wearing a veil and flowers in her hair. The portrayed captivates beholders with her gaze from dark, almond-shaped eyes. Another highlight is the idyllic impression Kallmünz by Wassily Kandinsky. It was created in the spring of 1903 close to the small Bavarian town near Regensburg during a study trip with his painting class from the Phalanx School. From the summer of the same year, Gabriele Münter, the artist’s later partner, would be among his students. Münter’s 1909 work Portrait of a Young Lady with Large Hat (Polish Woman) is another chief work shown in the presentation. That year, she and Kandinsky discovered a house in the picturesque Bavarian town of Murnau, which Münter eventually bought. It would be their main place of residence for many years. The female portrait highlights the great strengths of Münter’s painting – clear contours, a planar emphasis and a harmonious interplay of luminous colors. In 1907, August Macke attended a painting class in Berlin under the German Impressionist Lovis Corinth. Inspired by a stay in Paris exploring the traces of French Impressionism, he captured his cousin in his work Portrait of Mathilde Macke that summer. However, his summary treatment of planes and the clear contours already herald his imminent overcoming of light painting. The artist would later participate in exhibitions of Der Blaue Reiter.

Paula Modersohn-Becker joined the Worpswede artist’s colony in 1898. In this small village near Bremen she created numerous depictions of children, among them the 1901 likeness Bust Portrait of Elsbeth Holding a Flower in front of Landscape – it shows her stepdaughter, the daughter of her husband, the artist Otto Modersohn – and Three Seated Girls with Straw Hats and Flower Wreaths. In 1903, she painted the work Seated Girl with Sheep at the Pond. In 1906, during her last stay in Paris, Modersohn-Becker created Portrait of an Italian Girl. That year, she visited Maurice Denis, one of the main exponents of the artists’ group Nabis. Like Denis, Modersohn-Becker sought simplification and clarity in her art.

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