Die Brucke
Rising at the beginning stages of the German Expressionist movement, Die Brucke (“The Bridge”) was founded in 1905 by four architecture students at the Technical University of Dresden; Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The four derived the name for their group from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and saw it as a metaphor for a bridge moving into the new art world. Tired of academic artistic practices, the
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Die Brucke
Rising at the beginning stages of the German Expressionist movement, Die Brucke (“The Bridge”) was founded in 1905 by four architecture students at the Technical University of Dresden; Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The four derived the name for their group from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and saw it as a metaphor for a bridge moving into the new art world. Tired of academic artistic practices, the group chose not to receive formal artistic training and instead lived and worked off each other, holding collective exhibitions to publicize their art and message. They sought to paint using the purest form of expression, doing away with perspective and proportion for bold, loud colors and exaggerated forms. Their style of painting was impulsive, reflecting an immediacy and spontaneity to their work. They believed the art scene belonged to the youth and that traditional art should naturally give way to this new modernity. In 1906 Cuno Amiet, Emil Nolde, and Max Pechstein joined Die Brucke, however the following year Bleyl and Nolde left the group, the latter older than his counterparts and preferring to work on his own. Die Brucke artists were influenced by the art of Van Gogh and Gaughin, as well as the Neo Impressionist, Art Nouveau, and Fauvist movements. Fauvism, occurring during the same period, was similar to Die Brucke in aesthetics only; Die Brucke rejected the tranquil subject matter for the more troubled and anxious, focusing on themes of modernity and sexuality. Scenes of nudes in nature became particularly popular in Die Brucke. They were also attracted to Medieval woodcuts and woodcuts by the artist Edvard Munch, who declined repeated invitations to join the group. They studied African and Polynesian art at the Dresden Museum of Ethnology, the inspiration for many figures in their work. In 1910 Otto Mueller joined Die Brucke and they came together with the Berlin movement Neue Secession, and as a result move to Berlin in 1911. In 1912 the group came in contact with the Munich group Der Blaue Reiter, however the same year they began to fall apart, with Pechstein leaving the group. The artists of Die Brucke eventually splinter off into their own individual styles, dissolving in 1913 due to artistic differences. Die Brucke remains well known as an early progressive movement that sought to break free of the academic mold and hence made a lasting impact on twentieth century art.
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