Thoughts and History of: Die Brücke

Die Brücke (The Bridge) is a group of German artists who played a major role in the development of the expressionist movement in early 20th century Europe. They sought to create a bridge between old styles like fellow German printmaker Albrecht Durer and a more visceral, free, raw, direct form of personal expression. A metaphorical bridge to a better, more free future both in life and in artistic expression. Their first exhibit was held in 1906.

You can credit this group of artists with inventing the linocut, something I have been getting into doing lately. They also energized interest in the woodcut has a viable expressive medium, and to me this is the most interesting work that they did. The woodcut was used in medieval German culture has a popular way to illustrate a narrative, but Die Brücke artists used the woodcut because they felt (and I agree) that it is a direct, raw, genuine, mode of personal expression.

Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, Two Cats, 1915, Woodcut.

The group was started by four German architecture students; Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, joined later by Otto Mueller, Emile Nolde, and for a short time - Max Pechstei. Some of the influences on these Die Brücke artists were: Edvard Munch, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, all of whom exhibit elements of expressionist use of color and form in their style. But rather than painting only light or the reflection of light like their predecessors the impressionists, they infused their work with emotional expression.

One of the themes of the group was an outcry against the excesses of bourgeois society. German philosopher Frederich Nietzsche (1844 -1900) was also very critical of bourgeois society and was an obvious influence here. The Die Brucke artists set up studios on the outskirts of Dresden in a working class neighborhood, their aim was to separate themselves from modern society and free themselves from the trappings of a culture that disconnects one from a more vitalized, direct, and personal way of expression. They preferred a more liberal and bohemian lifestyle than the rigid, often strict institutions of early 20th century Germany could provide. This quote is from the Die Brücke manifesto; which Ernst Kirchner carved into wood in 1905:

'Putting our faith in a new generation of creators and art lovers, we call upon all youth to unite. And being youth, the bearers of the future, we want to wrest from the comfortably established older generation freedom to live and move. Anyone who directly and honestly reproduces that force which impels him to create belongs to us.'

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bathers Throwing Reeds, 1910.

Their work with woodcuts is the reason that this group of artists intrigue me so much, I have experimented with woodcuts myself and have always found woodcut prints fascinating for some reason. I like the angular lines, the minimalist color usage, the experimental and random aspect of the process. On one hand the carving can be laborious and careful, but then random in the sense that you can't predict every time what you will see or happen when you remove the inked paper from your block. I don't know if the fact that my family heritage is Czech has any influence on my artistic style, but I suspect that it does. Maybe that's why I like German Expressionism and identify it in my work; it has elements of that style - the same kind of heavy lines, figurative elements, facial expressions, a raw-direct, earthy kind of spiritual realism, rather than spiritual idealism like some of the romantic or earlier expressionist work.