Expressionism is one of the best-known art movements of the early 20th century. It reflects the social changes of a turbulent era. Across all genres of art, Expressionism reflects a cultural modernity that is as fascinating as it is ambivalent and threatening. Criticism, taboo, decadence, longing and a spirit of optimism characterized society in the 1920s and were central motifs in art and film. Otto Dix's sensitive portraits of pimps and prostitutes, Käthe Kollwitz's iconic depictions of grieving mothers and victims of war or Fritz Lang's film epic "Metropolis" (1927), created together with Thea von Harbou, of a futuristic two-class society are examples of this.
Emil Nolde, Dancer, around 1910/11, Siegel Collection / Stade Museums, Photo: Hartmut Sawatzky © Nolde-Stiftung, Seebüll
The 1920s are nourished by the nervous feeling of war and political upheaval, from which the arts draw their themes. However, the beginning of the 20th century is also a time of lively intellectual fertility: the artistic avant-garde and an ordinary audience meet in the coffee houses. The major German cities, and Berlin in particular, were an El Dorado of variety shows, dance halls, cinemas, sporting events, theaters, places of sexual liberation and homoerotic subcultures. Between a struggle for democracy, social visions, the pull of new media and achievements in the emancipation of women, Expressionism is a revolutionary impulse and mirror of its time.
In over 120 paintings, drawings, prints and film sequences, the exhibition presents the reciprocal influences of art and film. The cinema of the 1920s, with its new technical possibilities, redeemed much of what the Expressionist painters had already begun - an obvious occasion to juxtapose the two art forms for the first time and show their close relationship. With works by Paula Modersohn-Becker, Otto Dix, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, Wilhelm Morgner and films by Fritz Lang and Lotte Reiniger, the 1920s are presented in three episodes: "Awakening and rupture", "Dream and trauma", "Form and deformation" highlight what people experienced at the time. Art and film give these themes a loud expression and allow us to discover Expressionism in a new way.
March 9 to May 20, 2024
www.museen-stade.de
Alexej von Jawlensky, Abstract Head: Homer (Tibet), 1933, Kunsthalle Emden, Photo: Martinus Ekkenga
