August Macke

description

August Robert Ludwig Macke was a German innovative artist, one of the leaders of Expressionist group “The Blue Rider”, the author of program works published in the almanac of the same name under the auspices of the association.

He was the youngest of three children of successful civil engineer Friedrich Macke and Maria Florentina, who came from a peasant family. Soon after the birth of their son, the family moved to Cologne, and then to Bonn, where the boy entered a real gymnasium, and his parents organized a boarding school. August’s father painted landscapes, collected ancient engravings and coins – so the fascination with painting was not accidental. The first watercolors of the young man are dated 1902 year.

The participant and co-organizer of the exhibitions of avant-gardists in Germany. August Macke was killed at the age of 27 at the very beginning of the First World War. The House-Museum of the Artist was opened in Bonn; and the August Macke Institut, which deals with interdisciplinary research, in particular, of the Rhine Expressionism: the study of archival materials, the heritage of artists associated with this area of art, was founded there.

Ключевые идеи:

– In the work of August Macke, which was formed by the consistent enthusiasm for various artistic trends of the modern era, Symbolism and Impressionism (in that order), Post-impressionism (late rationalistic tradition), Orphism and Abstract art can be traced. From all this, he acquired an individual style that reflected the propensity to depict a positive image of a whole world with the harmony of the coexistence of people with the environment.

– Typical for portraits, landscapes and subject canvases of Macke are color and lighting effects – always thought out, carefully selected and worked out. The pictures, in addition to giving the impression of joy and lightness, are made without some kind of sweeping negligence typical of Expressionists. The contours are clear, but rather thin and harmonious, not deliberately beating in the eyes, causing additional expression. As one critic noted, “the images of Macke satisfy the thirst” of meeting with the beautiful.

– Another feature of A. Macke is the intention to depict a substantive and rather realistic world, through which both the Symbolist idea and the sensuality inherent in Expressionism sound. The artist wrote about his desire to “find the energy of color, forming space, not being content with dead chiaroscuro” to his French friend Robert Delaunay. In one of his last paintings, “The Rope Dancer”, the artist is close to the solution of this task. In the work, painted with burning paints, complex linear construction, intense colors and the entire spatial composition, which leads to the depth of the canvas, convey a sense of festive elation of the mood of the artists and the audience.

– Unlike his colleague and friend F. Marc, who depicted nature, A. Macke was interested in depicting a man and city life. Shevreyl’s optical discoveries, which were studied and developed by his friend Robert Delaunay, help the artist to paint gardens and urban architecture penetrated by light.

– Abstraction, which Macke briefly became interested in, was rather an exception in his work, because the abstract themes and speculative reflections on metaphysical problems were alien to August, who was actually interested in real life.

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1887

1903

1904 - 1906

1907 - 1908

1909

1910

1911 - 1913

1914

The birth of the artist

Born on January 3 in Meschede. He was the youngest of three children of a successful civil engineer Friedrich Macke and Maria Florentina, who came from a peasant family. Soon after the birth of their son, the family moved to Cologne, and then to Bonn, where the boy entered a real gymnasium, and his parents organized a boarding school. August’s father painted landscapes, collected ancient engravings and coins – so the fascination with painting was not accidental. The first watercolors of the young man are dated 1902 year.

Met his future wife Elizabeth Gerhardt

Met his future wife Elizabeth Gerhardt, the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer. Long walks with a girl in urban surroundings were reflected in a number of paintings by Macke. Elizabeth was his main model, depicted at least two hundred times. Visiting his elder married sister, August traveled to Basel and visited a museum there, where there were works by Arnold Böcklin, which greatly influenced August’s early creative development and his decision to become an artist.

He began studying at the Dusseldorf Academy of Arts

Leaving the gymnasium, he began studying at the Dusseldorf Academy of Arts, while attending classes of professor Emke at the evening courses at the School of Industrial Art under the supervision of Peter Behrens. After 2 years, he was disappointed in the teaching methods and left the Academy. He became carried away by Japanese art, especially the work of Hokusai. He performed the scenery at the Düsseldorf Drama Theater.

He studied at the private school of Impressionist L. Corinth

Went to exhibitions in Basel with his fellow sculptor Klaus Chito and bought a book about French Impressionists by Meier-Graefe. Almost unknown in Germany, the style made a turn in Macke’s manner of work. He studied at the private school of Impressionist L. Corinth. He traveled to Italy, making sketches from works of Renaissance masters, visited Paris. Performed annual military service.

Got married and spent his honeymoon in Paris

Got married and spent his honeymoon in Paris. He began to stay for a long time at Elizabeth’s mother’s house on Lake Thun in Switzerland, where he painted many landscapes and met Franz Marc, a young German artist who changed his further creative direction.

The artist created landscapes and plot canvases

His first child Walter was born (his second son Wolfgang was born in 2013). The couple moved to the Lake Tegernsee at the invitation of Schmidtbonne. Here the artist created landscapes and plot canvases in a new manner, already close to Expressionism.

Took part in the Blue Rider exhibitions

Took part in the Blue Rider exhibitions (Munich, Hans Goltz Gallery), actively participated in the preparation of the International Sonderbund Exhibition in Cologne, where West German artists were represented. He got acquainted with Robert Delaunay and Orphism. The following year, he was one of the initiators of the exhibition “The Rhine Expressionists”.

The death of the artist

Spent two weeks in Tunisia with artists Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet, created a large number of watercolors, sketches and photographs, and planned as the basis for future paintings. He went to the front as a volunteer, starting his service as a vice-sergeant major in the Rhine Infantry Regiment. Soon he became a company commander, was awarded the Iron Cross, and a week later, on September 26, he died in battle. His remains were not found; his name is inscribed on a tombstone common to all of those who died in a cemetery for soldiers in French Suenen, Champagne province.

According to the sketch of Dr. Till Macke, the grandson of the artist and the war hero, in 1999, a monument to A. Macke and his wife Elizabeth was erected at the Bonn Old Cemetery.