This generously illustrated and comprehensive book focuses on a decisive decade in Max Beckmann’s career as one of the leading figurative painters of the twentieth century. This publication will provide insight into a critical period in the artist’s development and the accomplishments that earned him such high esteem. Beckmann’s brief but profoundly jarring service as a medical orderly during World War I led to a nervous breakdown. He assimilated his experiences and incorporated recent and radical developments in art, such as Cubism and Expressionism, leading him to advance new pictorial conceptions beginning in 1915. To many of his contemporaries, the work Beckmann created between 1917 and 1925 placed him at the forefront of the latest developments in representational painting. In 1925, Beckmann’s celebrated status was confirmed by his prominence in the groundbreaking “Neue Sachlichkeit” (New Objectivity) exhibition in Mannheim, although he later distanced himself from the term. This book will situate Beckmann artistically and historically. Essays by both established experts and emerging scholars investigate the seminal energy found in the work he created between 1915 to 1925 - a period to which the artist himself repeatedly returned over the course of his lifetime. The self-referential aspect of Beckmann’s output is key to understanding his progression as an artist, which comes more clearly into focus via an analysis of these critical early years.

Illustrated throughout with exquisite reproductions of the museum's holdings, this book considers the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche and his writings on the fine arts and examines the founding of the Secessionist artists' organisations in Germany and Austria. Insightful essays trace the emergence of Expressionism and abstraction, as well as the development of such movements as Dada and New Objectivity. Evolutions in architecture and design are appraised through the legacy of the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as the establishment of the Darmstadt Artists' Colony and the Wiener Werkstatte. The book also examines the role of the German Werkbund and the founding of the Bauhaus school. Finally, the book briefly addresses the horrific impact of the National Socialists' degenerate art campaign, which resulted in incalculable damage and led to the exile and death of artists and designers of the era. From well-known artists such as Otto Dix, Josef Hoffmann, Vasily Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt, and Egon Schiele, to lesser recognised but equally important figures, including Albert Birkle, Alfred Kubin, Felix Nussbaum, and Dagobert Peche, this book offers an authoritative and kaleidoscopic look at a crucial moment in history and a portrait of radical thought that changed forever the way we experience art in our lives.

The 1930s in Germany and Austria were marked by economic crisis, political disintegration, and social chaos. This beautifully illustrated catalog surveys the development of the arts in these two countries between the two world wars. Presenting nearly 150 paintings and works on paper, this book reveals artistic developments that foreshadowed, reflected, and accompanied the beginning of World War II. Works by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Max Ernst, Oskar Kokoschka, and Alfred Kubin are presented alongside pieces by lesser-known artists such as Friedl Dicker- Brandeis, Albert Paris Gutersloh, Karl Hubbuch, Richard Oelze, Josef Scharl, Franz Sedlacek, and Rudolf Wacker. This book features essays about the appropriation of artistic idioms, the reactions of artists toward their historical circumstances, and major political events that shaped the era.