Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the Gothic Tradition

The Biadaiolo Master (Italian miniaturist) - Libro del Biadaiolo - 1328-30 - Illumination on parchment, 385 x 270 mm - (15.2 x 10.6 in) - Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence (click photo for larger image)Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bern with Belltower, 1935, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 80.65 cm (27.75 x 31.75 in) Minneapolis Institute of Arts (click photo for larger image)The so-called Biadaiolo codex was composed by Domenico Lenzi, a grain merchant. He annotated on it the prices of cereals for the Florentine marketplace located at Orsanmichele, together with bits of news, verses, and reflections of various sorts. The precious miniatures which decorate the codex are attributed to an anonymous artist, known as the Biadaiolo Master. On this sheet featured here, views of the city of Florence may be identified.

The charming setting as subject matter is rare in the work of German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1867-1956). His tendency was to deal with darker, more somber subjects. In 1917, Kirchner left Germany for Switzerland where he settled in an alpine house at Davos. He became a new influence in the Swiss art world which had been relatively untouched by Expressionism. At an age when most artists begin to settle and mellow, Kirchner found new vigor in the idolatry of Swiss students. The peaceful beauty and vast expanse of the high Alps, as well as the political stability of Switzerland, must also have contributed to the new brightness and precision evident in Bern (featured here). This new style, Kirchner's last period, began in 1925. Nothing of his expressive power is lost in the grandeur, gaiety and light.

Emil Nolde and the Medievalists

Emil Nolde - Crucifixion (The Life of Christ) - 1912 - Oil on canvas - 87x76 in. - Nolde Stiftung Seebüll  (Germany - Neukirchen) (click photo for larger image)The artists of the Modern Era were determined to shake off the dust of the Renaissance—and the canons of classical approaches that had “ruled” them for over 400 years. Perhaps ironically, many primary resources for the Moderns came from the Medievals! Modern Art draws heavily upon medieval art—in its approaches to color, line, surface imagery, abstraction and subject matter. In addition, art forms invented in the Middle Ages—such as woodcuts, wood carvings, and everyday items elevated to the status of art—were revived during the Modern period.

Emil Nolde (featured elsewhere on this site) was heavily influenced by medieval art. A restoration of specific, Christian imagery, in a new, colorful style, was not only a hallmark of his oeuvre but an important contribution to Expressionism and the northern visual arts tradition.

Unknown Master, Italian - Crucifix with the Stories of the Passion (detail) around 1200 - Tempera on wood - Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (click photo for larger image)The medieval work featured here shows one of the scenes (a Deposition) from the Stories of the Passion. It was created by one of many unknown masters of the Middle Ages. The Nolde painting featured illustrates how his compositions abstracted and exaggerated forms to delineate figures in a compressed space, bypassing the use of traditional linear perspective to relate the story.

Modigliani and Simone Martini

Simone Martini - Annunciation with Two Saints (detail) - 1333 - Tempera on wood - Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy (click photo for larger image)Simone Martini (c. 1285-1344) was among the early Italian artists who particularly moved Amedeo Modigliani(1884-1920). Discussions of both artists are featured elsewhere on this site.

The beautiful detail featured here (from Annunication with Two Saints) was painted around 1333 by Martini for the altar of Sant’Ansano in the Cathedral of Siena. Martini’s work reveals his great love of harmonious, pure colors. To these he added a gracefulness of line and delicacy of interpretation that were inspired by French Gothic works that the young artist studied in Italy. He carried to perfection the decorative line of the Gothic style and subordinated volume to the rhythm of this line.

Amedeo Modigliani - Jeanne Hebuterne, Left Arm Behind her Head - 1919 - Oil on canvas - Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA (click photo for larger image)Modigliani had a passion for the same type of beauty. Heavily influenced by the Italian painting tradition, Simone Martini was among the early Italian artists who particularly moved him. A relationship between his and Martini’s work is definitely evident.

Picasso and the Medieval Tradition

Romanesque Painter - Majestas Domini with Evangelists and Saints (detail) - c. 1123 - Fresco - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona (click photo for larger image)This wall-painting detail featured here originally came from the Church of San Clemente de Tahull in the lower Catalan Pyrenées. It was eventually transferred to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona for safekeeping. Pablo Picasso was particularly struck by the highly idiosyncratic and distinctive style of the San Clemente Master, and kept a poster of this image in his house at Mougins in Southern France. Picasso was a complex painter and his medieval sources have rarely been studied. But we do know that up until 1895 (when he made his first  visit to the Prado museum in Madrid) much of Picasso’s exposure to art took place in churches. In addition, as early as 1896, he was studying the Romanesque and Gothic elements of his local Barcelona architecture.

Pablo Picasso - La Visita (The Visitation) - 1902 - Oil on canvas - 152 x 100 cm. - Hermitage Museum, Saint PetersburgPicasso’s work La Visita (The Visitation) (1902) is seemingly simplistic in composition. The heavily outlined, elongated figures and exaggerated facial features evoke the flatness and abstraction that is characteristic of medieval art—and the period styled clothing enhances the reference. That the work was also done on panel (rather than canvas) also calls to mind the frescoes, altarpieces, and panel works of the Middle Ages. It’s worth noting that a number of works from Picasso’s “Blue Period” embody a medieval influence.

New Directions for What About Art?

Italian Miniaturist - Two Martyr Saints in an Initial S - 1340s - Manuscript, 152 x 127 mm - Victoria and Albert Museum, London (click photo for larger image)Henri Matisse - Notre Dame, une fin d’après-midi - 1902 - Oil on paper mounted on canvas - 28 1/2 x 21 1/2 in. - Albright-Knox Art Gallery - Buffalo, NY (click photo for larger image)Art history has works of art designated into traditions, eras, periods, movements, styles and such. Each designation has a definition. Renaissance art (which grew out of the revival of Greco-Roman antiquity), for example, represented a dramatic change from the medieval tradition. Modern Art (note those caps) specifically refers to art created from 1900-1945 that vehemently challenged academic standards. Modern Art is neatly divided up into five major movements—with numerous sub-movements. We have such categories because there has to be some way to organize all of what we call art—and some way to note the differences between developments in art. All disciplines have similar systems: history, literature, science, and such. But while categorization IS essential, it also can be misleading. With respect to art, many of the seeds of change are sown when and where least expected. Future posts will be dealing very much with this issue. Artists don’t operate in a vacuum. We are part of the broader world (like it or not) which also includes the history that’s preceded us. So…moving forward…What About Art? will be looking at art as a continuum—as it relates to the past, present…and future.

The two images featured here are just a teaser for you. We’ve already talked about Henri Matisse’s relationship with medieval art on this site and the works featured here is yet another example of art as part of an ongoing continuum.