The exhibition takes a broad view of Expressionism, highlighting a diverse array of individuals—from Oskar Kokoschka and Vasily Kandinsky to Erich Heckel and Emil Nolde—who nonetheless shared visual and thematic concerns. Their works reflect a period of intense social and aesthetic transformation, and several themes of continuing resonance emerge. These include a focus on urban experience, an uncompromising approach to the body and sexuality, and an abiding preoccupation with nature, religion, and spirituality. Most pivotal for these years, however, was the experience of World War I. The war and its aftermath are the subject of works by a range of artists, including Otto Dix, whose series of fifty searing etchings, The War, was based on his own service in the trenches; Käthe Kollwitz, in a portfolio of seven woodcuts focusing on the devastation felt by the families left behind; and Max Beckmann, whose lithographic series, Hell (1919), confronts the violence and decadence in Berlin during the immediate postwar period.
In addition to a publication and a major website on German Expressionism, the exhibition will mark the culmination of a major four-year grant from The Annenberg Foundation to digitize, catalogue, and conserve all of the approximately three thousand Expressionist works on paper in the Museum’s collection.
The exhibition is made possible by the Annenberg Foundation’s GRoW project, in conjunction with its generous support of the Museum’s German Expressionist Digital Archive Project.
Additional support is provided by David Teiger and by The Museum of Modern Art’s Research and Scholarly Publications endowment established through the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Edward John Noble Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Perry R. Bass, and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Challenge Grant Program.
Related Events
Upcoming
Past
Disseminating Expressionism: The Role of Prints, 1905–1924
This half-day symposium centers on the potential of the print as a medium for the dissemination of art and ideas. We will address the print’s ability to represent formal innovations and aesthetic goals, to communicate issues of war and national pride, and to appear alongside news, commentary, and literature in publications and periodicals. Moderated by exhibition curator, Starr Figura, Associate Curator, Prints & Illustrated Books, MoMA. Held in conjunction with the exhibition German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse.
Program Schedule
1:05–1:20 p.m.
Welcome and introduction, Starr Figura
1:20–1:45 p.m.
Meike Hoffmann, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, "Early Expressionism between the Artist and the Audience"
1:45–2:10 p.m.
Christian Weikop, Visiting Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, "‘Arboreal Expressionism:’ The Wood Culture of the Brücke Artists"
2:10–2:35 p.m.
Timothy O. Benson, Curator, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "Expressionist Periodicals and the Intersection of Literature, Prints, and Politics"
2:35–2:50 p.m.
Coffee break, Education and Research Building, mezzanine
2:50–3:15 p.m.
Shulamith Behr, Senior Lecturer in German 20th-Century Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, "Between Authenticity and the Multiple: Käthe Kollwitz, Graphic Dissemination, and Dealership"
3:15–3:40 p.m.
Peter Jelavich, Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University, "Graphic War"
3:40–4:05 p.m.
Rose-Carol Washton Long, Professor of 19th- and 20th-Century European Art, Department of Art History, The CUNY Graduate Center, "Prints and Politics in the Immediate Postwar Era"
4:05–4:40 p.m.
Moderated discussion
4:40–5:00 p.m.
Q&A
5:00–6:00 p.m.
Reception, Education and Research Building, mezzanine
Emil Nolde. Young Couple. 1913. Lithograph, comp.: 241/2 x 1913/16" (62.2 x 50.3 cm). Publisher: unpublished. Printer: Westphalen, Flensburg, Germany. Edition: 112 in 68 color variations. The Museum of Modern Art. Purchase. © Nolde Stiftung, Seebüll, Germany
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Early Viewing Hours
Wednesdays–Mondays, March 23–May 2, 9:30–10:30 a.m.
Members enjoy special early viewing hours of German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse before the Museum opens to the public. Early Viewing Hours are open to all members and their guests. Present your membership card and/or member guest admission ticket at the Museum entrance.
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