Herwarth Walden (actual name Georg Lewin; 16 September 1879, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

– 31 October 1941, in

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901, ...

, Russia) was a German expressionist artist and art expert in many disciplines. He is broadly acknowledged as one of the most important discoverers and promoters of German avant-garde art in the early twentieth century (Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, Magic Realism). He was best known as the founder of the Expressionist magazine '' Der Sturm'' (The Storm) and its offshoots.

Biography

He studied composition and piano at the music academies of Berlin and Florence. However, his interest embraced all arts. So he became a musician, composer, writer, critic, and gallery owner. He was best known as the founder of the expressionist magazine '' Der Sturm'' (The Storm) and its offshoots. These consisted of a publishing house and journal, founded in 1910, to which he added an art gallery two years later. Emil Orlik Portrait of Herwarth Walden

He discovered, sponsored and promoted many young, still unknown artists of different styles and trends, such as the Blaue Reiter and Italian

Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects suc ...

. Later some of them became very famous, among others:

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright, and teacher best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Expres ...

, Maria Uhden,

Georg Schrimpf Georg Schrimpf (13 February 1889 – 19 April 1938) was a German painter and graphic artist. Along with Otto Dix, George Grosz and Christian Schad, Schrimpf is broadly acknowledged as a main representative of the art movement ''Neue Sachlichke ...

. He also discovered and promoted several poets, notably

August Stramm August Stramm (29 July 1874 – 1 September 1915) was a German war poet and playwright who is considered the first of the expressionists. Stramm's radically experimental verse and his major influence on all subsequent German poetry has caused hi ...

, Otto Nebel, and Franz Richard Behrens. The literary style he espoused became known as 'Wort-Kunst' (Word-Art). From 1901 to 1911, Walden was married to Else Lasker-Schüler, the leading female representative of German expressionist poetry. She invented for him the pseudonym "Herwarth Walden", inspired by Henry Thoreau’s book '' Walden, or Life in the Woods'' (1854). In 1912 he married Swedish painter Nell Roslund. In 1919, he became a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...

. In 1924, he was divorced from his second wife. With the economic depression of the 1930s and the subsequent rise of National Socialism, his activities were compromised. In 1932, he married again and left Germany shortly thereafter because of the threat of the Gestapo. He went to Moscow, where he worked as a teacher and publisher. His sympathies for the avant-garde soon aroused the suspicion of the Stalinist Soviet government, and he had to repeatedly defend against the equation of avant-garde and fascism. Walden was imprisoned and died in October 1941 in a Soviet prison in Saratov. His death was established by the

International Tracing Service The Arolsen Archives – International Center on Nazi Persecution formerly the International Tracing Service (ITS), in German Internationaler Suchdienst, in French Service International de Recherches in Bad Arolsen, Germany, is an international ...

Works

* ''Der Sturm'' (Magazine, 1910–1932) * ''Dafnislieder für Gesang und Klavier'' (Songs, 1910) * ''Das Buch der Menschenliebe'' (Novel, 1916) * ''Die Härte der Weltenliebe'' (Novel, 1917) * ''Expressionismus: Die Kunstwende'' (Essays, 1918) * ''Kind'' (Drama, 1918) * ''Menschen'' (Drama, 1918) * ''Unter den Sinnen'' (Novel, 1919) * ''Die neue Malerei'' (Essays, 1920) * ''Glaube'' (Drama, 1920) * ''Einblick in Kunst'' (Essay, 1920) * ''Sünde'' (Drama, 1920) * ''Die Beiden'' (Drama, 1920) * ''Erste Liebe'' (Drama, 1920) * ''Letzte Liebe'' (Drama, 1920) * ''Im Geschweig der Liebe'' (Poems, 1925) * ''Vulgär-Expressionismus'' (Essay, 1938)

References

External links

"Herwarth Walden. Ein Essayist der Moderne"
Paleari, Moira, ''Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Walden, Herwarth 1879 births 1941 deaths Writers from Berlin 19th-century German people 20th-century German novelists Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union German Jews Jewish German writers German art critics German essayists German Expressionist writers German expatriates in Russia German male essayists German male novelists Foreign Gulag detainees Jewish Gulag detainees People who died in the Gulag 20th-century essayists 20th-century German male writers German magazine founders