Phalanx (artist)

Wassily Kandinsky's Art Nouveau poster for the first exhibition in Munich in 1901

Phalanx was an artist group in Munich that existed from 1901 to 1904 , who wanted to use artistic means to counter conservative encrustations in society and art.

history

The name of the group was program as a quote from Phalanx , the battle formation in ancient Greece. Founding members included Wassily Kandinsky , Rolf Niczky , Hermann Obrist , Waldemar Hecker and Wilhelm Hüsgen . The latter two were members of the first German political cabaret, Die Elf Scharfrichter . Kandinsky was elected President of the Association after Niczky and was also appointed head of the Phalanx School of Painting, the “School for Painting and Nude Drawing”. The group organized a total of twelve exhibitions, which in addition to the works of its own members, Claude Monet , Alfred Kubin , Lovis Corinth , Wilhelm Trübner , Alexander von Salzmann , Albert Weisgerber , Paul Signac , Félix Vallotton and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec .

In 1902 Kandinsky met Gabriele Münter in the “Phalanx” , who was studying there. She was his student, partner, and critic until they separated in 1914.

However, the group's acceptance dwindled in conservative Munich; fewer and fewer students registered, so that the exhibition and teaching operations had to be closed in 1904 despite individual successes.

In 1909, through the initiative of Marianne von Werefkin , Adolf Erbslöh , Alexej Jawlensky and Oscar Wittenstein, artists came together to form the Neue Künstlervereinigung München . Kandinsky became 1st chairman, but left the group in 1911 in a dispute in order to found the editorial community of the Blue Rider together with Franz Marc in the same year .

literature

• Norbert Göttler : The Blue Rider . Rowohlt, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-50607-9
• Eckhard Hollmann: The Blue Rider. On the trail of the artist group . Prestel, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-7913-4527-7 , p. 14 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Friedrich Pecht (Ed.): The art for all. 7th year, Munich 1902, p. 284
2. ^ Annegret Hoberg: Titia Hoffmeister, Karl-Heinz Meißner: Anthology . In exh. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the New Artists' Association Munich to the "Blue Rider" , Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1999, p. 29