During and after World War I, German art was doomed to portray the sufferings brought about by the cruelest of all human experiences, by the unforeseen savageness of modern warfare. Images of burned-down cities, dismembered soldiers, war machinery, tormented survivors and utterly disheartening representations of the effects of combat filled the works of German painters. Just as times were changing, so did the style of German art. As if urged by the need to convey emotions until then unknown, as if lacking the proper resources, artists such as Max Beckman (1884–1950), Otto Dix (1891–1969), or George Grosz (1893–1959) initiated what was labelled New Objectivity, stepping away from the more subjective tint of Expressionism to capture without any filter the ruthless atrocity of their days. Before these artists unveiled the horrors of the war and post-war urban life, Ludwig Meidner (1884-1966) predicted the collapse of German cities in his series of depictions of apocalyptic urban landscapes (Apokalyptische Landschäften, 1912-1916). These works still share truly expressionist features such as the use of well-defined colors, hectic brushstrokes, deformed, angular shapes and a layout that is undoubtedly influenced by an unsolvable inner confusion.
|
|