Sema (art)

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Signet of the artists' association Sema on the exhibition brochure, Munich 1912

The Sema was an international artists' association based in Munich from the early days of German Expressionism , which was grouped around the painter Paul Klee from 1911 to 1913 .

Act

In the summer of 1911, under the name of the artists' association Sema (sema = "sign", Greek) a "free society of members of the various arts [...] was formed, based not on social and economic professional interests, but on common cultural and artistic goals serve". The chairman was the writer, journalist and art critic Maximilian Karl Rohe. The composition of the members made it clear that the group consisted not only of visual artists , but also of relatives from the fields of literature , architecture and music . The aim of the merger was on the one hand to "avoid the isolation of modernity, on the other hand to replace the aesthetic conception of art by the spiritualization of art".

Paul Klee put it in his diary in 1911: “This summer a group of young artists came together in Munich to form an association that was to be called Sema 'the sign'. […] We met a couple of times in a pretty little club and agreed on Greco and that we all had no money. […] Now it was decided to publish a portfolio with original graphics. [...] Then Mr. Thannhauser was won over for a first exhibition. Caspar made optimistic expressions. And me? Well, at least it is a sign that one will not remain isolated from the outside forever. [...] Inwardly, I see little connection. But as I said, you try it. "

The first exhibition of the group took place in April 1912 in the modern gallery Heinrich Thannhauser in Munich, a second followed in January 1913 in the Mannheimer Kunstverein . At the same time as the Munich exhibition, the group brought out the so-called “Sema-Mappe”, consisting exclusively of 15 lithographs by the participating artists in a numbered and hand-signed edition of 200 pieces. The portfolio was published by Delphin Verlag Munich .

The group of artists formed a certain competition with the editorial community of the " Blauer Reiters ", which was formed at the end of 1911 and whose projects also included SEMA members Paul Klee and Alfred Kubin . The competitive situation and the different artistic positions of the group members can be seen as the main reason for the group's dissolution in the course of 1913.

Members

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ First public statement by Sema . In: Susanne MI Kaufmann: The “Sema Artists' Association”. A group of artists between the expressionist conception of art and the mechanisms of the art market . Open Access of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, History and Art Studies No. 38, Munich 2008, p. 7
  2. ↑ Susanne MI Kaufmann: The "Sema Artists' Association". A group of artists between the expressionist conception of art and the mechanisms of the art market . Open Access of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, History and Art Studies No. 38, Munich 2008, p. 43.
  3. ↑ From Paul Klee's diary 1911, quoted from Susanne MI Kaufmann: The “Sema Artists' Association”. A group of artists between the expressionist conception of art and the mechanisms of the art market .
  4. ^ Paul Klee Foundation (ed.): Paul Klee. Catalog raisonné . Volume 1, 1883–1912, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern 1998, p. 519.
  5. ^ Exhibition review by: Mentor, in: Yearbook Mannheimer Kultur . Mannheim, 1.1913 (1914), p. 248 ff.
  6. ↑ Sema. 15 original stone drawings, staatsgalerie.de, accessed on December 12, 2019
  7. ↑ Susanne MI Kaufmann: The "Sema Artists' Association". A group of artists between the expressionist conception of art and the mechanisms of the art market . Open Access of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, History and Art Studies No. 38, Munich 2008, pp. 72 and 76.