German Expressionism (The Artist Group Brucke and the Dawning of Modernism) - Meike Hoffmann

In a time like our own, where a young generation feels a great need to change our way of living, thinking and organizing ourselves, the publication on the artist group Brücke feels particularly relevant. These young artists also wanted to renew art and life in the German Imperial Empire and have ever since inspired younger generations of artists. In bright paintings with simplified forms and large fields of color they expressed rather their feelings than an external reality. They were interested in topics like man and nature, the naked body, portraits, self-portraits, the merging of life and art and life in the vibrant metropolis of Berlin. The catalogue discusses among others how we today perceive and can take on challenging themes like inspiration from African and Oceanian colonial cultural objects and of very young female models. Artists include Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.