This handsome book celebrates the collection of early-20th-century paintings in the Lenbachhaus in Munich by the Blue Rider, the name taken by a group of avant-garde artists led by Wassily Kandinsky in 1911. Their motivating force was a revolutionary "urge to abstraction." Even today, the intense colors and wild compositions of their paintings have a powerful impact; in their day they were sensational. In 1912 the group published an influential manifesto on the direction of modern art; it included articles on music and the arts of different cultures, especially primitive art, in an attempt to, in Kandinsky's words, "bring down the barriers between the arts." The story of the Blue Rider, told by the director and curator of the Lenbachhaus, re-creates the excitement of the passionate young painters as they expounded their theories. When Paul Klee explains his "discipline of reduction," his deceptively simple paintings suddenly take on new focus. Beginning with Kandinsky and ending with Klee, the book illustrates 129 paintings by members of the group. Extended captions give context to the individual artists and analyze their objectives; 60 vintage photos add visual background. A delightful phrase by Kandinsky describes the paintings in the Blue Rider's most momentous public exhibition and at the same time summarizes the importance of the group, before World War I tore it apart: "Together they are the symphony of the twentieth century." --John Stevenson


From Library Journal
This excellent introduction to the most important museum collection of works by the revolutionary group of German artists known as the Blue Rider features the movement's major figures, among them Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Munter, Alexei Jawlenski, and Paul Klee. An introduction by Friedel, director of the Lenbachhaus, gives the historical background of this 1911 revolt against the Munich art establishment, while Lenbachhaus curator Hoberg provides a page of detailed commentary opposite a full-page color plate for each of 129 works illustrated here. This is an updating of Armin Zweite's The Blue Rider in the Lenbachhaus, Munich (1989), with a new introductory essay (Friedel covers the same ground as Zweite, with somewhat different text illustrations) and eight additional color plates (the plates are smaller in the new edition, while commentaries are repeated unchanged). In contrast, the 1997 CD-ROM issued by the Lenbachhaus and distributed by Prestel contains 400 images. Given these considerations, this title is recommended only for those lacking the 1989 version. Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Libs. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In 1911 a group of young renegades seceded from Munich's established art society to protest against a jury's rejection of one of Kandinsky's works. Headed by Kandinsky and Marc, these artists organized their own exhibitions and published an almanac, both of which they called The Blue Rider. Although the group that was formed was short-lived, its elan has proved to be of lasting influence on twentieth-century art. In its preoccupation with abstraction, the forces and laws of nature, "primitive" art, and the role of color, the work of the Blue Rider artists revolved around many concerns central to the birth of Modernism.