Curated by Magdalena Moeller and Marco Goldin, the exhibition consists of over one hundred works (paintings and documents) from the Brücke-Museum in Berlin. Organized according to a timeline but also in a series of almost solo shows, from Kirchner to Heckel, Nolde, Schmidt-Rottluff, Pechstein and Mueller, this is the first exhibition in Italy to provide a detailed account of the development of the movement known as Die Brücke ("The Bridge"), a corner stone of Expressionism. To be held in Villa Manin, the exhibition is the third stage in a long-term project entitled Geographies of Europe, conceived and curated by Marco Goldin.
Founded in Dresda in 1905, Die Brücke was a highly original movement that eventually gave rise to what was to be known in art history as "Expressionism" – the German-speaking world's initial major contribution to modernism. Unlike the previous dominant artistic trends, these artists did not attempt to represent the various aspects of visible reality in their works but rather they strove to express subjective experience and the individual's innermost feelings.
The artists in Die Brücke aimed to translate objects perceived "directly and with no falsifications" into works of art stripped of any kind of academic conventions.The movement did not have a specific program. What the artists in the group had in common were spontaneity and a creative flair. Their overall ambition was to transfer innovative ideas and non-orthodox attitudes to everyday life so as to smash the claustrophobic mold of strict social rules in the Wilhelminian era.
Fritz Bleyl, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, all architect students in Dresden, founded the group on 7 June 1905. It was Schmidt Rottluff who came up with the name for the movement. According to the artists, they wished to make a clean
break with the near past, i.e. the academic approach of the 18th and 19th century, but at the same time "throw a bridge" between contemporary art and the Germanic tradition of the Middle Ages and especially Cranach, as one of the leaders, Kirchner, was to declare. Bleyl,
an expert draughtsman, made the poster for the first exhibition, held in Dresden in 1906. Emil Nolde and Hermann Max Pechstein joined the group in 1906 and Otto Mueller in 1910.
Especially in the period when they were part of the group, which eventually broke up in 1913, these artists shared deliberately simplified forms, strong outlines and bright colors juxtaposed to create dissonances.
In addition to landscapes and portraits, there are urban scenes (Kirchner's are particularly celebrated) depicting streets, bridges and cafes, but always through the distorting lens of violent social protest.
Although sharing these basic elements, the artists' drawings and paintings also show individual features and tastes. Heckel's paintings, initially made up of dotted lines, sketchy drawing and strident colors gradually evolved towards a more harmonious lyricism with luminous landscapes, partly due to the influence of the artists in Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Ring") movement. Pechstein was interested in primitive art and painted works with rich, modulated colors. His output is characterized by a feel for the decorative nature of the line and colors. Less violent, they are informed by a cooler interpretative approach compared to Expressionist poetics. Mueller has the mildest and most melancholy voice.
He brought to Expressionism a formal construction less inclined to violent contrasts, as evidenced in his female nudes, scenes of gypsy life and luxuriant landscapes. Schmidt-Rottluff devoted himself to portraits and landscapes with lingering Impressionist echoes, although his interest in lithography led him to simplify his compositions in concise angular forms.
The works of Kirchner and Nolde are arguably the most coherent and faithful to Expressionist poetics. Kitchener's style becomes increasingly dramatic with violent distortions and convulsive rhythms. Nolde accentuated the dramatic elements to arrive at grotesque painting. His caricatures of the human figure are fiercely shaped by applying paint in sweeping brushwork with no compositional schemes. Seen together, the works in this movement magnificently encapsulate the early days of
Expressionism up to the First World War. With their bold palettes and non-conventional stylized imagery, they have a special vitality and ecstatic energy which still fascinates today, as does their powerful subjective exploration of the landscape.
The Expressionism exhibition documents the various forms of artistic creativity in this revolutionary group. Their radical assumptions and visionary concepts became a significant source of inspiration for the following generations of artists.
The exhibition documents all the main stylistic stages, also through documents translated from German into Italian for the catalogue, which will include an entry for each work on show and several essays by leading experts. |
