Recommended Books

1. For a longer, larger format with detailed descriptions of the artists, containing many large colored reproductions, select:

Expressionism.  A Revolution in German Art, Dietmar Elger, (TASCHEN 25th Anniversary Series, 2007). ISBN: 3822831948

2. For a shorter, condensed text, which contains only basic information, select:

Expressionism, Norbert Wolf, (TASCHEN, 2019). ISBN:  978-3-8365-0528-4

Syllabus

Session #1 – Precursors and influences on early Expressionism, Jugendstil; historical setting of the movement; founding of Die Brücke; its manifesto and goals; Herwarth Walden and the Sturm magazine and gallery in Berlin and his wife, Elsa Lasker-Schüler.

            Readings:
                       https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-things-dresden-germany/

                       https://www.schirn.de/en/magazine/context/the_sturm_is_herwarth_walden/
                       The Sturm is Herwarth Walden, by Teresa Köster, Schirn Magazine, November 11, 2015.

                       https://www.schirn.de/en/magazine/context/your_body_is_a_battleground/
                       Your Body is a Battleground, by Teresa Köster, Schirn Magazine, October 28, 2015

Session #2 –The original founding fathers of Brücke: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, Fritz Bleyl.

            Readings:   
                       Brücke.  New York by Robin Reisenfeld, in The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 151, No 1274, French Art in the Nineteenth Century (May, 2009),                         pp. 342-344. (This article will be provided by your instructor.)

Session #3 – Later artists of Brücke: Max Pechstein and Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde; the outsider Marc Chagall; the end of Brücke.

            Readings:
                        https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/emil-nolde-nazi-hamburger-bahnhof-13222/

                        https://www.christies.com/features/Emil-Nolde-Colour-is-Life-9322-1.aspx     

                        https://www.invaluable.com/blog/german-expressionism/                                                                      

Session #4 – The Northern German Expressionists:  Paula Modersohn-Becker, Christian Rohlfs; Rhenish Expressionism: August Macke, Heinrich Campendonk, Wilhelm Morgener.

            Readings: https://www.neuegalerie.org/franz-marc-and-august-macke-1909-1914                               

            Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y21AQwxlv7g

            Readings: https://www.moma.org/artists/4037(on Paula Modersohn-Becker)