''Der Blaue Reiter'' (''The Blue Rider'') was a group of artists and a designation by

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

and Franz Marc 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 a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

of the same name (first published in mid-May 1912). The editorial team organized two exhibitions in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in 1911 and 1912 to demonstrate their art-theoretical ideas based on the works of art exhibited. Traveling exhibitions in German and other European cities followed. ''The Blue Rider'' disbanded at the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 Die Brücke (The Bridge), also known as Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke, was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. The founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-R ...

(The Bridge) in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. 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 rad ...

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, Alexej von Jawlensky, Adolf Erbslöh and 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. There were repeated disputes among the conservative forces in the N.K.V.M, which flared up due to Kandinsky's increasingly abstract painting. In December 1911, Kandinsky submitted ''Composition V'' for the association's third exhibition, but the jury rejected the painting. In response, Kandinsky, along with Münter, Marc, and others, formed a rival group and quickly organised a parallel exhibition at the same venue, the Thannhauser Gallery, in rooms adjacent to the official show. This breakaway group adopted the name ''Der Blaue Reiter.'' Years later, Kandinsky recalled anticipating the controversy and having already prepared extensive material for the new group's exhibition: "Our halls were close to the rooms of the NKVM exhibition. It was a sensation. Since I anticipated the 'noise' in good time, I had prepared a wealth of exhibition material for the BR laue Reiter So the two exhibitions took place simultaneously. (…) Revenge was sweet!". The exhibition was officially titled the ''First Exhibition of the Editorial Board of Der Blaue Reiter'', reflecting Kandinsky and Marc's plans to publish an art almanac under the same name. Kandinsky resigned as chairmanship of the N.K.V.M. 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 color blue. For Kandinsky, blue was the color of spirituality; the darker the blue, the more it awakened human desire for the eternal (as he wrote in 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 color; 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, with 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 ar ...

and primitivism, as well as the contemporary, non-figurative art scene in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. 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 art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

, 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1914. Franz Marc and August Macke were killed in combat.

returned to Russia, and Marianne von Werefkin and Alexej von Jawlensky 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. In 1923, Kandinsky, Feininger, Klee and Alexej von Jawlensky formed the group ''Die Blaue Vier'' (''The Blue Four'') at the instigation of painter and art dealer Galka Scheyer. Scheyer organized ''Blue Four'' exhibitions in the United States from 1924 onward. 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 in an edition that sold approximately 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 Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

'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 which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

'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 sma ...

and

Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

* Thomas de Hartmann's essay "Anarchy in Music" * an article by Leonid Sabaneyev about Alexander Scriabin * an article by Erwin von Busse on

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (; 12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist of the School of Paris movement; who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism (art), Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and g ...

, illustrated with a print of his ''The Window on the City'' * an article by Vladimir Burliuk on contemporary Russian art * 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 is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

, Cézanne, and

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

were outnumbered by seven from

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Gug ...

and thirteen from child artists.

Exhibitions

First exhibition

On December 18, 1911, the ''First exhibition of the editorial board of Der Blaue Reiter'' (''Erste Ausstellung der Redaktion Der Blaue Reiter'') opened at the Heinrich Thannhauser's Moderne Galerie in Munich, running through the first days of 1912. 43 works by 14 artists were shown: paintings by

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Gug ...

, Albert Bloch,

David Burliuk David Davidovich Burliuk (; 21 July 1882 – 15 January 1967) was a Russian poet, artist and publicist of Ukrainian origin associated with the Futurism (art), Futurist and Neo-Primitivist movements. Burliuk has been described as "the father of ...

Wladimir Burliuk Vladimir Davydovych Burliuk (; ; – 1917) was a Ukrainian avant-garde artist ( Neo-Primitivist and Cubo-Futurist) and book illustrator from the Russian empire. He died at the age of 32 in 1917 in World War I. Biography Vladimir Davydovych Bur ...

, Heinrich Campendonk,

, Elisabeth Epstein, Eugen von Kahler,

, August Macke, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, Jean Bloé Niestlé and

, 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

From February 12 through April 2, 1912, the ''Second exhibition of the editorial board of Der Blaue Reiter'' (''Zweite Ausstellung der Redaktion Der Blaue Reiter'') showed works in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

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 these other exhibitions: * 1912 Sonderbund westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler exhibition, held in Cologne * Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (organised by Herwarth Walden and his gallery, Der Sturm), held in 1913 in Berlin

Members

* Albert Bloch *

* Heinrich Campendonk * Clotilde von Derp * Lyonel Feininger * Maria Franck-Marc * Natalia Goncharova * Alexej von Jawlensky *

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 wi ...

* Alfred Kubin * August Macke * Franz Marc * Gabriele Münter *

* Marianne von Werefkin

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 *

External links

*
Collection: "Expressionism–Der Blaue Reiter"
from the University of Michigan Museum of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaue Reiter German artist groups and collectives German art movements History of Munich Culture in Munich 1911 establishments in Germany 1914 disestablishments in Germany Wassily Kandinsky