Neue Galerie New York
June 28–September 3, 2018
The German collection spans the period from 1890 to 1940, and emphasizes the key movements of that era, including Expressionism, with canvases by members of the Brücke (Bridge), including Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and also artists affiliated with the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider), such as Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, August Macke, and Gabriele Münter. The Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement is also addressed, with important selections by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, and Christian Schad. In the decorative arts, the Bauhaus is a special area of emphasis, with major examples of design by Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Wilhelm Wagenfeld.Collectively, these works reflect this tumultuous epoch in German history, as the nation shifted from an empire to a fragile democracy under the Weimar Republic following World War I. Likewise, the utopian ideal of uniting art and life in the pre-war era was replaced by a more practical embrace of a machine aesthetic, as artists reconciled themselves to the emergence of modern technology.
Erich Heckel (1883–1970)
Bathers in a Pond, 1908-09
Oil on canvas
Neue Galerie New York and Private Collection
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn