German Expressionism

Dorothy Price is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Critical Race Art History at The Courtauld

• List of figuresList of contributorsIntroduction: why does der Blaue Reiter still matter? - Dorothy Price and Christopher Short1 Is der Blaue Reiter relevant for the twenty-first century? A discussion of anarchism, art and politics — Rose-Carol Washton Long2 The dynamics of gendered artistic identity and creativity in der Blaue Reiter — Shulamith Behr3 The 'primitive' and the modern in Der Blaue Reiter almanac and the Folkwang Museum — Katherine Kuenzli4 The 'savages' of Germany: a reassessment of the relationship between der Blaue Reiter and Brücke — Christian Weikop5 Kleinkunst and Gesamtkunstwerk in Munich and Zurich: Der Blaue Reiter and Dada — Debbie Lewer6 Type/face: Wassily Kandinsky and Walter Benjamin on language and perception — Annie Bourneuf7 Feeling blue: Der Blaue Reiter, Francophilia and the Tate Gallery 1960 — Nathan J. Timpano8 Die Tunisreise: the legacy of Der Blaue Reiter in the art of Paul Klee and Nacer Khemir — Sarah McGavran Index

'This book is not intended as an introduction to the art and ideas of Der Blaue Reiter, nor does it offer a comprehensive history of the group. Instead, these essays provide new, exciting readings of a series of topics that are loosely linked yet independent of each other. Although it took nine years for them to appear in print, they have lost nothing in the delay, and for those interested in an in-depth analysis of Der Blaue Reiter and its legacies, the book is well worth the wait.'Burlington Magazine'German expressionism is enjoying a resurgence of interest. Most of the recent scholarship on the art of German expressionism focuses on the artists of Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group founded in 1905 by four Dresden architects, which lasted about a decade. In the popular imagination, the angular, painterly, figurative style of Die Brücke artists, who were interested in combining the modern and the primitive, represents the essential qualities of expressionism. Until now, the artist groups that arose in Munich during the decade before WW I have received little attention. Among those groups was Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), usually considered another development of pre–WW I German expressionism. In contrast to the Die Brücke artists, the artists of Der Blaue Reiter were less cohesive in style and intent. Scholars of German expressionism have always taken pains to argue that Der Blaue Reiter really belonged to the earlier movement. Three of the eight essays in this collection try to establish Der Blaue Reiter as an equal contributor, with a standing of its own, to the expressionist movement. The other five essays explore tangential aspects of individual artists’ careers and specific cases of early critical appreciation.'--W. S. Bradley, emeritus, Colorado State UniversitySumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.