Aya Soika

The Expressionist and “Brücke” artist Max Pechstein was a pioneering representative of modernism in Germany. His intensely colourful depictions of people and nature are regarded as foundational to Expressionism and were a defining inspiration for an entire epoch. This publication magnificently illustrates the diversity and depth of his oeuvre.Many of his paintings are regarded as icons of Expressionism, yet the stylistic breadth of Max Pechstein’s art extends well beyond his works from the “Brücke” period. He found inspiration in his visits to what he called “painter’s paradises” on the Baltic Sea and the South Pacific, where his focus on the unity of man and nature was crystallized. Pechstein’s art and his yearning for harmony in an unstable world reflect our current and increasingly appreciative view of nature and the environment, and thus serve as a bridge to the present time.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner og Emil Nolde er hovedskikkelser i den tyske ekspressionistiske bevægelse. De vendte sig bort fra det europæiske samfund og de etablerede normer i tidens borgerlige kultur og søgte i stedet inspiration i mennesker, livsformer og genstande fra andre dele af verden, især Afrika og Oceanien. I denne bog undersøges Noldes og Kirchners kunst på baggrund af deres historiske og ideologiske kontekst. Her afdækkes forbindelser mellem værkerne og den racetænkning og undertrykkelse, som også er en del af europæisk historie. Dermed afsløres en række mindre kendte og mere voldelige sider af ekspressionismen. Denne publikation er udgivet i anledning af udstillingerne om Nolde og Kirchners virke i 1910'erne, organiseret af SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst, København og Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam i samarbejde med Brücke-Museum, Berlin

In 1937, thousands of works by the Brücke artists were confiscated from German museums by the National Socialist authorities, and numerous icons of Expressionism were shown in the traveling exhibition “Degenerate Art”. The volume takes a critical look at the fates and the artistic praxis of the former “Brücke” members in the years after 1933. On the basis of numerous sources which have hitherto not been analyzed, today’s popular image of Expressionism, its vilification as “degenerate” and the creation of the legend after the end of the Second World War are examined: how much scope for action was there and how should we evaluate the narratives of “inner emigration” and the “zero hour” today? Based on the extensive stocks of the Brücke-Museum, the publication discusses in detail the everyday reality of the artists under the National Socialists. The measures carried out against the former “Brücke” Based on the extensive stocks of the Brücke-Museum, the publication discusses in detail the everyday reality of the artists under the National Socialists. The measures carried out against the former “Brücke” members as a result of Nazi art policy are explained, together with the direct effects on their creative work and the self-image of the painters within the context of the times.

Max Pechstein ( 88 – 955) is one of the most prominent German artists of the twentieth century, not least because of his crucial role in the breakthrough of German Expressionism. This long overdue biography combines the portrayal of an outstanding artistic personality with the story of an individual German who struggled through the political upheavals of his time. Pechstein's work is presented in the cultural context of museum politics and art associations, art dealers and critics, market forces and cultural trends.