The Cologne Progressives was an art movement and were an informal group of artists based in the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

area of Germany. They came together following 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, ...

and participated in the radical

workers' movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

History

Hoerle Denkmal der unbekannten Prothesen 1930

The group was founded by Gerd Arntz,

Heinrich Hoerle Heinrich Hoerle (1 September 1895 – 7 July 1936) was a German constructivist artist of the New Objectivity movement. Hoerle was born in Cologne. He studied at the Cologne School of Arts and Crafts but was mostly self-taught as an artist. Aft ...

and Franz Wilhelm Seiwert. The group related their attitude to art to their political activism. As

Wieland Schmied Wieland Schmied (5 February 1929 – 22 April 2014) was an Austrian art historian and critic, curator, literary scholar and writer. He was professor of art history at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich since 1986 and its rector from 1988 until ...

put it, they "sought to combine constructivism and objectivity, geometry and object, the general and the particular, avant-garde conviction and political engagement, and which perhaps approximated most to the forward looking of

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, wh ...

..".Wieland Schmied: "Neue Sachlichkeit. Der deutsche Realismus der zwanziger Jahre", in: ''Kritische Grafik in der Weimarer Zeit'', Op. cit., p. 21. As cited in: ''August Sander 1876–1964''. Lange, Susanne, p. 108. They originated Figurative Constructivism. Other artists and designers associated with this group include Wilhelm Kleinert,

Marta Hegemann Marta Hegemann (February 14, 1894 – January 28, 1970) was a German artist associated with the Dada movement and with the Cologne Progressives. She was a founding member of the Cologne art group Stupid. Life Hegemann was born in Düsseldorf an ...

Angelika Hoerle Angelika Hoerle (née Margaretha Angelika Fick; 20 November 1899 – 9 September 1923) was a German Dada artist who was a founding member of the Cologne art group Stupid and the cofounder of a Dadaist publishing house. Life She was born Mar ...

Anton Räderscheidt Anton Räderscheidt (October 11, 1892 – March 8, 1970) was a German painter who was a leading figure of the New Objectivity. Räderscheidt was born in Cologne. His father was a schoolmaster who also wrote poetry. From 1910 to 1914, Räderscheidt ...

, and Gottfried Brockmann. Many members had come from the Stupid (art movement).

Key concepts

Reversibility

This concept comes from their concern not merely to communicate social and political necessities, but also to ensure that their artworks could be turned toward the viewers sensible reality and become tenable as an argument. This is tied to their political commitment to

proletarian culture Working-class culture is a range of cultures created by or popular among working-class people. The cultures can be contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often equated with popular culture and low culture (the counterpart of high ...

in the specific context of the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

during the tumults of the 1920s.

References

{{Authority control Culture in Cologne German art movements Constructivism (art)

History

Key concepts

Reversibility

See also

References