Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Der Blaue Reiter

Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, Gabriele Münter, Lyonel Feininger, Albert Bloch and others founded the group in response to the rejection of Kandinsky's painting Last Judgement from an exhibition. Der Blaue Reiter lacked a central artistic manifesto, but was centred around Kandinsky and Marc. Paul Klee was also involved.

Wassily Kandinsky, Der Blaue Reiter, 1903
The name of the movement comes from a painting by Kandinsky created in 1903 (see illustration). It is also claimed that the name could have derived from Marc's enthusiasm for horses and Kandinsky's love of the colour blue. For Kandinsky, blue is the colour of spirituality: the darker the blue, the more it awakens human desire for the eternal (see 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 colour; and a spontaneous, intuitive approach to painting. Members were interested in European medieval art and primitivism, as well as the contemporary, non-figurative art scene in France. As a result of their encounters with cubist, fauvist and Rayonist ideas, they moved towards abstraction.





16 comments:

Akubi said...

Murst
to say yes "Der Blaue Reiter lacked a central artistic manifesto" but they ride alone without one for a reason they can't understand.

derBlaueReiterFlowy(V) said...

Wow... wish I'd been there... must have been amazing...

Nice to have the paintings and other things to show us what it was like...

Anonymous said...

I think I was there.

I want a train/horse/tail to eternity.

Kitty said...

Here's someone who was probably there...

derBlaueReiterFlowy(V) said...

Found Edgar again... he looks very happy...

Akira said...

Hi Kitty,
She seems quite interesting. I like her Flickr name.

Akira said...

Hi Flowy,
Edgar looks a bit distracted in that one.

Anonymous said...

Tea lovers steamed at politically charged "Tea Parties"

Anonymous said...

I was here, and I am disappointed because I can't view the content of the flowy link. Anyhoo, I like horsies, and blue too. :D

derBlaueReiterFlowy(V) said...

Ah ah ah...

Edgar looks totally distracted...Caw... caw... caw!

BLAU NEIGHHHHHH!

edgar said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8L4KNrPEs0&feature=related

Akira said...

Hi Anon,
I'm also a tea lover and get annoyed with all of the stupid comments people leave on SFGate. They couldn't possibly be local.

Akira said...

Hi Edgar,
Didn't you just need to click "YES" to see it?
I can't believe anyone would consider it NSFW.

Akira said...

@Flowy,
I'm sure the nipples in his face have nothing to do with distraction.
He's probably just pondering the SEC or something along those lines.

Akira said...

Hi Edgar,
I like the video, but I've never had a chance to put my finger in a raven's mouth. How does that guy do it?
When I was a kid I had some bad experiences with geese and they still freak me out, but I like birds nonetheless.

derBlaueReiterFlowy(V) said...

der blau reiter...

riding around the globe...

breaking everything into colors

daaaaaa..... neighhhhhhh....