Blaue Reiter, der (dĕr blou`ə rī`tər) [Ger.,=the blue rider], German expressionist art movement, lasting from 1911 to 1914. It took its name from a painting by Kandinsky, Le cavalier bleu. Following the Brücke Brücke, Die [Ger.,=the bridge], German expressionist art movement, lasting from 1905 to 1913. Influenced by the art of Jugendstil (the German equivalent of art nouveau), Van Gogh, and the primitive sculpture of Africa and the South Seas, the
..... Click the link for more information. artists of the previous decade, this second wave of expressionism expressionism, term used to describe works of art and literature in which the representation of reality is distorted to communicate an inner vision. The expressionist transforms nature rather than imitates it.
..... Click the link for more information. was led by Kandinsky Kandinsky, Wassily or Vasily , 1866–1944, Russian abstract painter and theorist. Usually regarded as the originator of abstract art, Kandinsky abandoned a legal career for painting at 30 when he moved
..... Click the link for more information. , Klee Klee, Paul , 1879–1940, Swiss painter, graphic artist, and art theorist, b. near Bern. Klee's enormous production (more than 10,000 paintings, drawings, and etchings) is unique in that it represents the successful combination of his sophisticated theories of
..... Click the link for more information. , Marc Marc, Franz , 1880–1916, German painter. Influenced by August Macke, he developed a rich, chromatic symbolism. He depicted a mystical world of animals, especially horses, employing devices of distortion to express the animals' own awareness of their lives.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Macke Macke, August , 1887–1914, German painter. Trained in Germany, he made several trips to Paris, where he came in contact with impressionism and the fauvist and cubist painters.
..... Click the link for more information. , in Munich. Through the use of distorted forms and startling color, they sought to discover spiritual truths that they felt the impressionists had overlooked. Less united stylistically and as a group than the Brücke, their art ranged from the sometime pure abstractions of Kandinsky to the romantic imagery of Marc. In 1911, Kandinsky and Marc prepared a significant collection of articles and illustrations published as the "Blaue Reiter" Album. Common to the artists in the group was a philosophical spirit, an intellectual approach to technique, and great lyrical spontaneity. The group disbanded at the outbreak of World War I. Marc and Macke were killed in battle.

Bibliography

See study by H. K. Roethel (tr. 1972).

Blaue Reiter, Der

(German; “The Blue Rider”)

Organization of Expressionist artists formed in Munich in 1911 by Vasily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. The name derived from a volume of essays and illustrations they published. Other members included Paul Klee and August Macke (1887–1914). Influenced by Jugendstil, Cubism, and Futurism but lacking a specific program or philosophy, they exhibited with an international group, including Georges Braque, André Derain, and Pablo Picasso. The group disintegrated at the outbreak of World War I.

Blaue Reiter, Der

(The Blue Rider), an association of artists that existed in Munich from 1911 to 1914. Its work was close to expressionism. The founders of Der Blaue Reiter were W. Kandinsky and F. Marc, both of whom had previously belonged to the Neue Künstlervereinigung. The group’s members and exhibitors included A. Macke, G. Münter, H. Campendonck, and L. Feininger (German); A. G. Iavlenskii, M. V. Verevkina, and the brothers D. D. Burliuk and V. D. Burliuk (Russian); P. Klee (Swiss); R. Delaunay (French); and A. Kubin (Austrian). The German avant-garde composer A. Schönberg was associated with Der Blaue Reiter.

Some members of Der Blaue Reiter, for example, Kandinsky and Marc, very soon turned to abstract art. Many others, however, preserved to some extent a representational basis, emphasizing mystically interpreted pictorial elements. In the 1920’s some of the members of Der Blaue Reiter, including Kandinsky, Klee, and Feininger, became major figures in the Bauhaus school.

REFERENCES

Tikhomirov, A. “Ekspressionizm (Khudozhniki ob” edineniia ‘Sinii vsadnik’).” Modernizm, 1973. Pages 23–30.
Buchheim, L. G. Der Blaue Reiter und die “Neue Künstlervereinigung München.’ Feldafing, 1959.
Der Blaue Reiter. Edited by W. Kandinsky and F. Marc; new edition edited by K. Lankheit. Munich, 1965.

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