German Expressionist Prints And Drawings Essays

The Robert Gore Rifkind Centre for German Expressionist Studies at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art contains the world's most comprehensive and distinguished collection of German Expressionist prints and drawings, illustrated books, and periodicals. The essays in volume 1 place the collection in the context of the history and development of the German expressionist movement. Volume 2 illustrates each of the more than 5000 works in the collection.

Expressionism was a dominant force in German art from the late 1890s until the 1930s. The Marcia and Granville Specks Collection is noted for its high quality, breadth and profound graphic power. The collection is presented here for the first time as well as detailed information on papers, papermarks, edition size and provenance.

In the early years of the 20th century, a group of young artists including Ernst Kirchner, Vassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, liberated themselves from traditional representation by using distortion and vibrant, unrealistic colour in their painting. Eroticism became a tool for exposing the lies and decadence of society, whilst motifs borrowed from African, Oceanic and Buddhist art further questioned bourgeois culture. Later, the cruelty of World War I was reflected violently in the work of Max Beckmann, Otto Dix and George Grosz.

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mar. 27-July 11, 2011.