ArtPage on Die Brücke

Die Brucke or Die Brücke or The Bridge - A group of German Expressionist artists based in Dresden and Berlin between 1905 and 1913, mostly painters, they depicted landscapes, nudes, and carnival performers in strong colors and broad forms. They also revived the German woodcut tradition, but as a form of personal expression. Die Brücke is German for "The Bridge," and was not intended to be a style, but as a bridge toward a better future. They lived and worked as a community, in emulation of the guilds of the Middle Ages. Die Brücke was founded by four architecture students: Fritz Bleyl (1880-1966), Ernst Kirchner (1880-1938), Erich Heckel (1883-1970), and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976); other members included Emil Nolde (1867-1956) and Kies van Dongen.

Examples:

Emil Nolde (German, 1867-1956), E.N. (Selbstporträt) (E. N. (Self-Portrait)), 1908, etching with tonal effects on iron, image 30.8 x 23.5 cm, printer, Otto Felsing, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. See self-portrait.

Emil Nolde, Christ Among the Children (Christus und die Kinder), 1910, oil on canvas, 34 1/8 x 41 7/8 inches (86.8 x 106.4 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Emil Nolde (German, 1867-1956), Prophet, 1912, woodcut, edition of 20-30, 12 5/8 x 8 3/4 inches (32.1 x 22.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Emil Nolde, Flowers (Blaue und Lila Blumen), c. 1915?, oil on burlap, 26 1/4 x 33 1/4 inches (66.6 x 84.5 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Emil Nolde, Russian Peasants (Zwei Russen), 1915, oil on canvas, 29 x 35 1/2 inches (73.4 x 90 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Otto Mueller (German, 1874-1930), Bathers (Landschaft mit gelben Akten), c. 1919, oil on burlap, 27 5/8 x 35 3/4 inches (70.2 x 90.8 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880-1938), Street, Dresden, 1908 (dated 1907), oil on canvas, 59 1/4 inches x 6 feet 6 7/8 inches (150.5 x 200.4 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bathers at Moritzburgm, 1909 / 26, oil on canvas, 151.1 x 199.7 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Seated Woman, 1910-1920, oil on canvas, 35 7/8 x 31 3/4 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Two Women, 1911/22, oil on canvas, 59 x 47 inches (149.9 x 119.4 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, The Belle-Alliance-Platz in Berlin, 1914, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Erich Heckel (German, 1883-1970), Fränzi Reclining, 1910, woodcut, complete: 8 15/16 x 16 9/16 inches (22.6 x 42.1 cm) (irregular), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Erich Heckel (German, 1883-1970), Standing Child, 1910, color woodcut, 14 7/8 x 10 7/8 inches (37.7 x 27.6 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Erich Heckel, Bildnis E.H. (Self-Portrait), 1917, woodcut, image 36.4 x 29.5 cm; sheet 61.6 x 50.7 cm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. See self-portrait.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (German, 1884-1976), Houses at Night, 1912, oil on canvas, 37 5/8 x 34 1/2 inches (95.6 x 87.4 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Pharisees, 1912, oil on canvas, 29 7/8 x 40 1/2 inches (75.9 x 102.9 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Two Women, 1912, oil on canvas, 76.5 x 84.5 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait), 1914, woodcut, image 34.9 x 29.7 cm; sheet 57.8 x 45.1 cm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. See self-portrait.

Also see Bauhaus, Blaue Vier, degenerate, Der Blaue Reiter, and German art.