Neue Gallerie: German Expressionism 1900 - 1930

This article was originally published on March 22, 2013

I was thoroughly confused at the Neue Gallerie's current (through April 22nd) exhibit of German Expressionism from 1900 to 1930.  Although all the museum's signage and informational handouts indicate that both its floors have been given over to the exhibit, the actual display of Expressionist paintings, those of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) and Die Brücke (The Bridge), is limited to one small room on the third floor and consists of roughly twenty works.  Among these are the paintings shown in the slideshow on the museum's website; they represent the work of such important German artists as Nolde, Kirchner, Pechstein and the Russian born Kadinsky.

Unfortunately, a casual visitor to the museum who possessed no prior knowledge of German art might very well come away with a misapprehension of the scope of the Expressionist movement.  Most of the artists currently on view, though they may very well have been contemporaries of the Expressionists, had little to do with that particular school itself.  Chief among these are Gustav Klimt, the symbolist painter at the heart of the Vienna Secession, and Christian Schad and Otto Dix who are primarily associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit ("New Objectivity") movement.

It is also extremely disappointing that the Neue Gallerie limits its current exploration of Expressionism to paintings and drawings.  Expressionism was also a vital movement within the German film industry.  And yet there are no stills shown from either F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu or Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.  In any serious discussion of a given art movement, no analysis can be attempted without having first taken into account that movement's influence on all forms of artistic expression.

None of this should be taken as an advisory to avoid the Neue Gallerie.  Many of the works on display, whether Expressionist or not, are among the masterpieces of early twentieth century art.  The exhibit also provides a fascinating glimpse into the directions German art might have pursued had it not been interrrupted, first by World War I and then by the Nazis.  The Nazis also did not care for fine distinctions between schools of painting.  They did not hestitate to lump Expressionism together with the Neue Sachlichkeit under the label entartete Kunst ("Degenerate Art").

The exhibit continues through April 22, 2013.