Franz Marc’s Expressionist masterpiece Red Woman, painted in 1912 is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown of the collection. Immediately arresting, it depicts a nude female figure in a semi-abstract jungle setting of rich, sensual reds and greens. Marc was the co-founder along with Wassily Kandinsky, of the Blue Rider artists group in Munich in 1911-12. Kandinsky is represented by a small untitled drypoint from 1924, which articulates the elegant abstraction which characterised his Bauhaus period. Further works by Klee, Campendonck, Jawlensky and Münter offer wider insights into the group.
In Dresden in 1905, a group of four architecture students led by E. L. Kirchner, founded Die Brücke (The Bridge). Their art was energised and influenced by the spirituality of medieval woodcuts and the authenticity of Oceanic tribal art. Subject matter for the group was wide ranging, Leicester’s collection including coastal scenes, interiors and portraits by Pechstein, Kirchner, Nolde and Heckel. Newly acquired for 2007 is Sailing Boat off Fehmarn, a 1914 woodcut by Kirchner, which celebrates the Baltic coast in a magnificent study of boats with great black sails contrasted against the sea.
Expressionism centred around a rejection of Impressionism, focusing instead on the inner emotions that lay behind the external world of appearances. The horror of World War 1 and its aftermath however, witnessed the rise of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). This was an abrupt departure from the utopian vision of expressionism in favour of works which increasingly depicted everyday life in a detached, observational style.
Two portraits with a New Objectivity feel are Messias, 1919, oil, by Ernst Neuschul, and Self-portrait with a Cat, oil, 1928 by Lotte Laserstein, showing the artist in her Berlin studio, a beautiful and aloof cat on her lap. Both artists fell foul of the Nazis, Neuschul having his paintings vandalised by stormtroops and Laserstein forced to close her studio on account of her Jewish roots. Other artists represented in the German collection at Leicester include Bloch, Beckmann, Corinth, Dix, Kollwitz and Liebermann.
Expressionist art continues to fascinate today and the “Expressionism and Beyond” gallery at the New Walk Museum provides a rich and memorable visual record of artists searching for an authentic essential reality, whether depicting portraits, scenes of city life or rural images of country and coast.
Every effort has been made to locate copyright for artworks. Copyright holders of unassigned works are requested to contact Leicester Arts and Museums Service.
