![]() He moved to South Africa after his art training, only returning to Britain to join up in 1915, and so missed out on the European avant-garde movements. Shortly before he left for the Front, he painted this picture, Farewell (1914) – how prescient – and how sombre the colours have become.Įnglish poet and artist 1890-1918. Very moving, this picture of a young man at the start of his creative career, fresh-faced, not knowing that he would be dead five years later, killed in the second month of the war, aged 27. I like his obvious delight in patterns and colour. Like Marc, Macke used primary colours he too came under the influence of the Cubists, and his style changed. They were Expressionists who were influenced by the French Impressionists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who I discussed under my post about Immendorf, was also one of the influences. With Marc he was a member of Die Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), formed by Kandinsky. Self-portrait with hat 1909 Still life hyacinths carpet 1910 Zoological garden 1 1912 The application of paint and the division of the picture plane through the use of lines and geometric shapes now carried the emotional charge previously conveyed by animals.” (3) The last third of the painting was damaged in a fire after his death, and was restored by his friend Paul Klee from photographs he used a brown tint – no-one knows why. The animal motifs which once conveyed a sense of emotion no longer held their appeal and possibility. ![]() He states that he was no longer able to see the beauty which animals had once represented for him. I can hardly conceive that I painted it’… The destruction, the chaos, and the sadness that the viewer sees sums up the evident outcome the future war would bring.” (2) He also wrote that “he began to see the ugliness in animals which he had previously thought only existed in humans. ![]() Serving in World War I, Marc wrote to his wife of the painting, ‘ is like a premonition of this war-horrible and shattering. On the rear of the canvas, Marc wrote, ‘Und Alles Sein ist flammend Leid’ (‘And all being is flaming agony’). “Marc had completed the work in 1913, when ‘the tension of impending cataclysm had pervaded society’, as one art historian noted. Marc had changed the style of his paintings, becoming more abstract, under the influence of the Cubists and Futurists – quite a transformation in a short time. No idea where the picture we had went…įate of the animals is strikingly different, with its jagged, diagonal lines and rather tortured animals. It’s very typical of many of Marc’s paintings – and in the end I do like it. It’s a peaceful picture, though with a certain liveliness brought to it by the horses, particularly the prancing posture of the one on the left – but perhaps the composition is a bit too perfect. However trying to look with fresh eyes, I can see that it’s a very pleasing composition, with the three horses in a triangular arrangement the red and the green complement each other, with the blue and orange for contrast. Even now, it’s so familiar I have trouble actually seeing it. When I was a bit older I didn’t like it, I thought it was too garish. I didn’t know then who it was by, and I don’t suppose my parents did either, and in those days I wasn’t at all curious about it. The notable fact about Grazing horses (to me) is that I grew up with a print of it over the fireplace my entire early life – so I was delighted to find it. Grazing horses (Three red horses) 1911 Fate of the animals 1913 The Nazis suppressed modern art and declared Marc “degenerate”, removing 130 of his paintings from public display. Just before the order reached Marc, he was killed by a shell. ![]() His is a sad story: in 1916 the German government decided that all notable artists should return from the battle front, to keep them safe. His work is characterized by bright primary color, an almost cubist portrayal of animals, stark simplicity and a profound sense of emotion” the colours represented different emotional states (2). “Most of his mature work portrays animals, usually in natural settings. German Expressionist artist (1880-1916) was already achieving a reputation by the outbreak of the war. When I was thinking about what to do for my poster assignment, one thing led to another, and I came across an article written for The Guardian newspaper by Jonathan Jones “Top 10 artistic talents lost in the first world war” 24 July 2014 (1) I looked into some of these artists, whose lives were so wastefully cut short.
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