“Fever Dreams: German Expressionism" at the Figge Art Museum -- June 21 through December 7(pictured: Lea Grundig).
Saturday, June 21, through Sunday, December 7
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
With the Davenport venue partnering alongside the German American Heritage Center and Museum for programming during the exhibit's run, the Figge Art Museum will house Fever Dreams: German Expressionism in the Lewis Gallery from June 21 through December 7, this arresting exhibition featuring loans from the David and Sarojini Johnson Print Collection, and showcased in conjunction with the GAHC's companion exhibit German Expressionist Prints from the Johnson Collection.
The Figge's Fever Dreams: German Expressionism presents the work of artists active in Europe during the early 20 century, among them Käthe Kollwitz, Arthur Segal, and Ludwig Meidner, who put their inner visions to paper in defiance of tradition and political injustice. German Expressionism began when a group of young artists sought to boldly interpret the world around them as an act of freedom and a political statement in opposition to the “old, established forces.” In a time of war, revolution, and persecution, this artwork is often emotionally fraught and holds an expressive power that remains as strong today as it was a century ago.
In 1905, a group of four German artists, led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, formed Die Brücke (the Bridge) in the city of Dresden. This was arguably the founding organization for the German Expressionist movement, though they did not use the word itself. A few years later, in 1911, a like-minded group of young artists formed Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in Munich. The name came from Wassily Kandinsky's Der Blaue Reiter painting of 1903. Among their members were Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Paul Klee, and August Macke. However, the term Expressionism did not firmly establish itself until 1913.
Expressionism has been notoriously difficult to define, in part because, as historian and author Richard Murphy stated, "The search for an all-inclusive definition is problematic to the extent that the most challenging expressionists such as Kafka, Gottfried Benn and Döblin were simultaneously the most vociferous 'anti-expressionists." What can be said, however, is that it was a movement that developed in the early 20th century, mainly in Germany, in reaction to the dehumanizing effect of industrialization and the growth of cities, and that, as Murphy said, "One of the central means by which expressionism identifies itself as an avant-garde movement, and by which it marks its distance to traditions and the cultural institution as a whole, is through its relationship to realism and the dominant conventions of representation."
Fever Dreams: German Expressionism will be on display in the Davenport museum's Lewis Gallery from June 21 through December 7, with regular museum hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays (10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays) and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Museum admission is $8-14, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7804 and visiting FiggeArtMuseum.org.
