''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and
Franz Marc
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of '' Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later ...
for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the
almanac
An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and othe ...
of the same name, first published in mid-May 1912. The editorial team organized two exhibitions in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
in 1911 and 1912 to demonstrate their art-theoretical ideas based on the works of art exhibited. Travelling exhibitions in German and other European cities followed. The Blue Rider disbanded at the start of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
in 1914.
The artists associated with ''Der Blaue Reiter'' were important pioneers of modern art of the 20th century; they formed a loose network of relationships, but not an art group in the narrower sense like '' Die Brücke'' (The Bridge) in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
. The work of the affiliated artists is assigned to German
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...
.
History
The forerunner of The Blue Rider was the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (N.K.V.M; New Artists' Association Munich), instigated by
Marianne von Werefkin
Marianne von Werefkin, born Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina ( rus, Мариа́нна Влади́мировна Верёвкина, Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina, mərʲɪˈanːə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə vʲɪˈrʲɵfkʲɪnə; – 6 Febr ...
,
Alexej von Jawlensky
Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (russian: Алексе́й Гео́ргиевич Явле́нский, translit=Alekséy Geórgiyevich Yavlénskiy) (13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expression ...
, Adolf Erbslöh and the German entrepreneur, art collector, aviation pioneer and musician . The N.K.V.M was co-founded in 1909, and Kandinsky, as its first chairman, organized the exhibitions of 1909 and 1910. Even before the first exhibition, Kandinsky introduced the so-called "four square meter clause" into the statutes of the N.K.V.M due to a difference of opinion with the painter Charles Johann Palmié, this clause would give Kandinsky the lever to leave the N.K.V.M in 1911. In 1911, Palmié allowed Kandinsky and Marc to leave the association and organize the first Blue Rider exhibition. The Blue Rider was thus a spin-off (
Secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics l ...
) from the N.K.V.M.
When there were repeated disputes among the conservative forces in the N.K.V.M, which flared up due to Kandinsky's increasingly abstract painting, he resigned the chairmanship on 10 January 1911 but remained in the association as a simple member. His successor was Adolf Erbslöh. In June, Kandinsky developed plans for his activities outside of the N.K.V.M. He intended to publish a "kind of almanac" which could be called ''Die Kette'' (The Chain). On 19 June, he pitched his idea to Marc and won him over by offering him the co-editing of the book.
The name of the movement is the title of a painting that Kandinsky created in 1903, but it is unclear whether it is the origin of the name of the movement, as Professor Klaus Lankheit learned that the title of the painting had been overwritten.Vezin, 1992, p. 124 Kandinsky wrote 20 years later that the name is derived from Marc's enthusiasm for horses and Kandinsky's love of riders, combined with a shared love of the colour blue. For Kandinsky, ''blue'' is the colour of spirituality: the darker the blue, the more it awakens human desire for the eternal (see his 1911 book ''On the Spiritual in Art'').
Within the group, artistic approaches and aims varied from artist to artist; however, the artists shared a common desire to express spiritual truths through their art. They believed in the promotion of modern art; the connection between visual art and music; the spiritual and symbolic associations of colour; and a spontaneous, intuitive approach to painting. Members were interested in European
medieval art
The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, ge ...
and
primitivism
Primitivism is a mode of aesthetic idealization that either emulates or aspires to recreate a "primitive" experience. It is also defined as a philosophical doctrine that considers "primitive" peoples as nobler than civilized peoples and was an o ...
, as well as the contemporary, non-figurative art scene in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. As a result of their encounters with cubist, fauvist and Rayonist ideas, they moved towards abstraction.
Der Blaue Reiter organized exhibitions in 1911 and 1912 that toured Germany. They also published an almanac featuring contemporary, primitive and
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...
, along with children's paintings. In 1913 they exhibited in the first German Herbstsalon.
The group was disrupted by the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
in 1914.
Franz Marc
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of '' Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later ...
and
August Macke
August Robert Ludwig Macke (3 January 1887 – 26 September 1914) was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He lived during a particularly act ...
Marianne von Werefkin
Marianne von Werefkin, born Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina ( rus, Мариа́нна Влади́мировна Верёвкина, Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina, mərʲɪˈanːə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə vʲɪˈrʲɵfkʲɪnə; – 6 Febr ...
and
Alexej von Jawlensky
Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (russian: Алексе́й Гео́ргиевич Явле́нский, translit=Alekséy Geórgiyevich Yavlénskiy) (13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expression ...
fled to Switzerland. There were also differences in opinion within the group. As a result, Der Blaue Reiter was short-lived, lasting for only three years from 1911 to 1914.
Supported by their dealer Galka Scheyer, Kandinsky, Feininger, Klee and
Alexej von Jawlensky
Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (russian: Алексе́й Гео́ргиевич Явле́нский, translit=Alekséy Geórgiyevich Yavlénskiy) (13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expression ...
formed
Die Blaue Vier
''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
(The Blue Four) group in 1923. Together they exhibited and lectured in the United States from 1924.
An extensive collection of paintings by Der Blaue Reiter is exhibited in the Städtische Galerie in the Lenbachhaus in Munich.
Almanac
Conceived in June 1911, ''Der Blaue Reiter Almanach'' (''The Blue Rider Almanac'') was published in early 1912, by Piper, Munich, in an edition of 1100 copies; on 11 May, Franz Marc received the first print. The volume was edited by Kandinsky and Marc; its costs were underwritten by the industrialist and art collector Bernhard Koehler, a relative of Macke. It contained reproductions of more than 140 artworks, and 14 major articles. A second volume was planned, but the start of World War I prevented it. Instead, a second edition of the original was printed in 1914, again by Piper.
The contents of the ''Almanac'' included:
* Marc's essay "Spiritual Treasures," illustrated with children's drawings, German woodcuts, Chinese paintings, and
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
's ''Woman with Mandolin at the Piano''
* an article by French critic Roger Allard on
Cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
*
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
's article "The Relationship to the Text", and a facsimile of his song "Herzgewächse"
* facsimiles of song settings by
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sm ...
and
Anton Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...
*
Thomas de Hartmann
Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann (russian: Фома́ Алекса́ндрович Га́ртман; October 3 .S.: September 21 1884March 28, 1956) was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition.
Life
De Hartmann was born o ...
's essay "Anarchy in Music"
* an article about
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...
Robert Delaunay
Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...
, illustrated with a print of his ''The Window on the City''
* Macke's essay "Masks"
* Kandinsky's essay "On the Question of Form"
* Kandinsky's "On Stage Composition"
* Kandinsky's '' The Yellow Sound''.
The art reproduced in the ''Almanac'' marked a dramatic turn away from a Eurocentric and conventional orientation. The selection was dominated by primitive, folk, and children's art, with pieces from the South Pacific and Africa, Japanese drawings, medieval German woodcuts and sculpture, Egyptian puppets, Russian folk art, and Bavarian religious art painted on glass. The five works by
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fro ...
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910) at the Albert Bloch
Albert Bloch (August 2, 1882 – March 23, 1961) was an American Modernist artist and the only American artist associated with Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group of early 20th-century European modernists.
Biography
Bloch was born o ...
Wladimir Burliuk
Wladimir Davydovych Burliuk (russian: Владимир Давидович Бурлюк; – 1917) was a Russian avant-garde artist ( Neo-Primitivist and Cubo-Futurist) and book illustrator. He died at the age of 32 in 1917 in World War I.
Biog ...
,
Heinrich Campendonk
Heinrich Mathias Ernst Campendonk (3 November 1889 – 9 May 1957) was a painter and graphic designer born in Germany who became a naturalized Dutch citizen.
Life
Campendonk was born in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was th ...
,
Robert Delaunay
Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...
Arnold Schönberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
, and an illustrated catalogue edited.
From January 1912 through July 1914, the exhibition toured Europe with venues in Cologne, Berlin, Bremen, Hagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Budapest, Oslo, Helsinki, Trondheim and Göteborg.
;Second exhibition
February 12 through April 2, 1912, the "Second exhibition of the editorial board of Der Blaue Reiter" showed works in "Black & White" (''Zweite Ausstellung der Redaktion Der Blaue Reiter, Schwarz-Weiß'') at the "New Art" Gallery of Hans Goltz (''Neue Kunst Hans Goltz'') in Munich.Catalogue?
;Other shows
The artists of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' also participated in:
* 1912 Cologne, Sonderbund westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler
* 1913 Berlin,
Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon
Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (First German Autumn Salon) was the title of an art exhibition that was organized in 1913 by Herwarth Walden in Berlin.
Henri Rousseau memorial exhibition
The exhibition opened on 20 September 1913 in rented rooms ...
Albert Bloch
Albert Bloch (August 2, 1882 – March 23, 1961) was an American Modernist artist and the only American artist associated with Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group of early 20th-century European modernists.
Biography
Bloch was born o ...
Heinrich Campendonk
Heinrich Mathias Ernst Campendonk (3 November 1889 – 9 May 1957) was a painter and graphic designer born in Germany who became a naturalized Dutch citizen.
Life
Campendonk was born in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was th ...
Alexej von Jawlensky
Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (russian: Алексе́й Гео́ргиевич Явле́нский, translit=Alekséy Geórgiyevich Yavlénskiy) (13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expression ...
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...
August Macke
August Robert Ludwig Macke (3 January 1887 – 26 September 1914) was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He lived during a particularly act ...
*
Franz Marc
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of '' Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later ...
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
*
Marianne von Werefkin
Marianne von Werefkin, born Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina ( rus, Мариа́нна Влади́мировна Верёвкина, Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina, mərʲɪˈanːə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə vʲɪˈrʲɵfkʲɪnə; – 6 Febr ...
Notes
References
*John E. Bowlt, Rose-Carol Washton Long. ''The Life of Vasilii Kandinsky in Russian art: a study of "On the spiritual in art" by Wassily Kandinsky''. Pub l. Newtonville, Mass. USA. 1980.
*Wassily Kandinsky, M. T. Sadler (Translator) ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art''. Dover Publ. (Paperback). 80 pp. . or: Lightning Source Inc. Publ. (Paperback).
*
* Hoberg, Annegret, & Friedel, Helmut (ed.): ''Der Blaue Reiter und das Neue Bild, 1909-1912'', Prestel, München, London & New York 1999
* Hopfengart, Christine: ''Der Blaue Reiter'', DuMont, Cologne 2000
*
University of Michigan Museum of Art
The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...