Making Modernism: Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin - Hardcover

Dorothy Price; Shulamith Behr; Chantal Joffe RA; Sarah Lea; Rhiannon Hope

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1912520907 ISBN 13: 9781912520909

Publisher: Royal Academy of Arts, 2022

Synopsis

• Includes insightful new texts by leading experts
• Accompanies a major exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, 13 November 2022 – 12 February 2023

Käthe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin are among the exceptional artists associated with the emergence of Expressionism in Germany in the early decades of the 20th century. Each challenged prevailing ideals of feminine identity at a time of great societal change. As women, they were expected to marry and raise a family; some chose to, some did not. As ambitious artists, they wanted to work.

As they rose to these challenges, their art further undermined conventions. Their portraits of children symbolise joy, hope and innocence but also melancholy, tension, curiosity, the passing of time and unfulfilled desire. Their radical depictions of the nude wrest the female body away from the male gaze towards a newfound role, expressive of powerful maternity and female subjectivity. These dramatic modernist compositions, with their fluid brushwork and bright hues, push at the boundaries of form, colour and spiritual meaning.

About this title

About the Author

Dorothy Price is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Critical Race Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art.
The painter Chantal Joffe RA is well known for her arresting portraits of women.
Shulamith Behr taught for many years at the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Sarah Lea is Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Rhiannon Hope is assistant curator at the Royal Academy of Arts.

From the Back Cover

Kähe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin are among the exceptional artists associated with the emergence of Expressionism in Germany in the early decades of the 20th century. Each challenged prevailing ideals of feminine identity at a time of great societal change. As women, they were expected to marry and raise a family; some chose to, some did not. As ambitious artists, they wanted to work.

As they rose to these challenges, their art further undermined conventions. Their portraits of children symbolise joy, hope and innocence but also melancholy, tension, curiosity, the passing of time and unfulfilled desire. Their radical depictions of the nude wrest the female body away from the male gaze towards a newfound role, expressive of powerful maternity and female subjectivity. These dramatic modernist compositions, with their fluid brushwork and bright hues, push at the boundaries of form, colour and spiritual meaning.

Edition details

• Publisher: Royal Academy of Arts
• Publication date: 2022
• ISBN 10: 1912520907
• ISBN 13: 9781912520909
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160