Der Blaue Reiter group at LACMA

On August 28th, my friend Bonnie and I enjoyed a visit to Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Expressionist Exhibit.  In this visit, I again enjoyed the wonderful colors and creations of the German and French Expressionists in the years leading up to the First World War.  I was especially moved by Der Blaue Reiter group that exhibited together in Munich, German from 1911 to 1914.  They were founded by a number of Russian emigrants, including Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin and native German artists Franz Marc, August Macke, Gabriele Munther, Lyonel Feininger, and Albert Bloch.  Paul Klee, Henrich Campendonk, and French artist, Robert Delaunay were also involved in shows sponsored by this group.  Kandinsky wrote that the name was derived from Marc's enthusiasm for horses, Kandinsky's loved of riders, combined with a shared loved of the color blue.  For Kandinsky, blue was the color of spirituality:  "The darker the blue, the more it awakens human desire for the eternal." This is from his 1911 book On the Spiritual in Art.

World War I ended the movement in 1914.  August Macke and Franz Marc died in the war serving in the German army.  Kandinsky, von Werefkin and Jawlensky were forced to move back to Russia because of their Russian citizenship.

Here are some of their paintings in the exhibit:

"Saint-Severin No. 2," 1909 by Robert Delaunay, French, 1885-1941

"Red Eiffel Tower (La Tour rouge)," 1911-12 by Robert Delaunay

"Fairy Princess with a Fan," 1912 by Alexel Jawlensky, Russian, active in Germany, 1864-1941

"Red Blossom," 1910 by Alexel Jawlensky

"Sketch, Nudes on Vermillion," 1909-1910 by Franz Marc, German 1880-1916

"Stables," 1913 by Franz Marc

"Harlequin and Columbine," 1913 by Henrich Campendonk, German, 1889-1957

"Landscape with Cows, Sailing Boat, and Figures," 1814 by August Macke, German 1887-1914

"Sketch I for Painting with White Border," 1913 by Wassily Kandinsky, Russian, active Germany and France 1866-1944
Kandinsky's use of white is a reference to "the harmony of silence."