Edited by Starr Figura. Text by Starr Figura, Peter Jelavich, Heather Hess, Iris Schmeisser.
The artists associated with German Expressionism in the early decades of the twentieth century took up printmaking with a dedication and fervor virtually unparalleled in the history of the genre. The woodcut, with its coarse gouges and jagged lines, is the preeminent Expressionist medium, but the movement also revolutionized etching and lithography, to alternately vibrant and stark effect. This graphic impulse can be traced from the formation of the artist group Die Brücke in 1905 through the war years of the 1910s and into the early 1930s, when individual artists continued to produce compelling work even as the movement was winding down. This volume, published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, showcases the Museum's outstanding holdings of Expressionist prints, enhanced by a selection of drawings, paintings, and sculptures from the collection. Featuring approximately 260 works by some 30 artists, the book presents a diverse array of individuals, including Max Beckmann, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Vasily Kandinsky and Oskar Kokoschka. Essays by Starr Figura, Associate Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books at MoMA, and Peter Jelavich, Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University, discuss the centrality of printmaking in German Expressionism and provide a sociocultural backdrop for the movement.
Featured image, "Gerty with Mask and Wineglass" (1910), by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, is reproduced from German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Choice
W.S Bradley
The publication represents the institution and the subject of German Expressionism well, particularly for a general readership.
STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely.
FROM THE BOOK
"In the 15 years after its inception, around 1905, German and Austrian Expressionism experienced two waves of ebullient optimism followed by profound despondency. Whereas the Expressionists' initial desire to renew art and, indeed, all aspects of life was dashed by the Great War, their revived utopian hopes, awakened by the revolutionary events of November 1918, dissipated in the chaotic political and social conditions of the early German and Austrian republics. The fluctuating moods of the Expressionists can be charted in their works by following the theme of dance as well as related genres of performing arts: variety shows, cabarets, and short dramatic skits. Their early images of dance—ranging from lively, lowbrow vaudeville performances to pictures of themselves and their companions dancing naked in their studios—asserted the boisterous vitality that they hoped to infuse into everyday life. That innocence was lost on the battlefields of World War I, where they encountered a Dance of Death—an image and a metaphor that they applied to postwar conditions as well."
It's been almost a month since this exhibition -- the largest that the museum has devoted exclusively to Germany's first modern movement -- opened to wide acclaim at the MoMA. If you haven't visited yet, you have a little over a month to catch it. For those of you non-New Yorkers, we can offer the second best thing: the exhibition catalogue.
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FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 12 in. / 288 pgs / 295 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $60.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $70 ISBN: 9780870707957 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 5/31/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Edited by Starr Figura. Text by Starr Figura, Peter Jelavich, Heather Hess, Iris Schmeisser.
The artists associated with German Expressionism in the early decades of the twentieth century took up printmaking with a dedication and fervor virtually unparalleled in the history of the genre. The woodcut, with its coarse gouges and jagged lines, is the preeminent Expressionist medium, but the movement also revolutionized etching and lithography, to alternately vibrant and stark effect. This graphic impulse can be traced from the formation of the artist group Die Brücke in 1905 through the war years of the 1910s and into the early 1930s, when individual artists continued to produce compelling work even as the movement was winding down. This volume, published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, showcases the Museum's outstanding holdings of Expressionist prints, enhanced by a selection of drawings, paintings, and sculptures from the collection. Featuring approximately 260 works by some 30 artists, the book presents a diverse array of individuals, including Max Beckmann, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Vasily Kandinsky and Oskar Kokoschka. Essays by Starr Figura, Associate Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books at MoMA, and Peter Jelavich, Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University, discuss the centrality of printmaking in German Expressionism and provide a sociocultural backdrop for the movement.
