Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, “Christ among the Women,” 1919, woodcut

It was a time of rapid change and innovation, but also of anxiety and turmoil: the hope of progress walked hand in hand with the anguish of suffering. And all of it was reflected in the proliferation of art movements in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century: Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, the Fauves. German Expressionism grew out of this avant-garde impulse, which aimed to redefine the role of art in society, challenging the aesthetic boundaries set by the academies and exploring more radical, subjective forms of expression. More than any other movement, it responded to the anguish of the early 20th century as Europe stumbled towards war, plague and poverty. Looking for emotionally potent forms that could respond to the turmoil of the times, the German Expressionists engaged heavily with primitive Christian iconography and biblical sources. It was not merely a stylistic choice, but also a profound commentary on the spiritual vacuum perceived in rapidly industrializing societies.

Reconciliation: Biblical Imagination in German Expressionist Prints, now on loan from the Bowden Collection at Brigham Young University’s Museum of Art, is an enticing examination of the Expressionists’ exploration of biblical iconography through one of their principal mediums: printmaking. The exhibition situates the artists in the context of the art they drew inspiration from: early German woodblock prints from the 16th century, when the printing press was revolutionizing artistic distribution, reveal direct, homegrown sources, whereas African masks from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, represent the modernists’ interest in “primitivism.” Spanning five decades—though focused principally on works created just before and after the first world war—Reconciliation features more than 50 works by artists like Max Pechstein, Vassily Kandinsky, Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz  and Oskar Kokoschka.

For the German Expressionists, printmaking was both a return to the forms that inspired the movement and a modern attempt to reach a broad, non-elite audience. In addition, the harsh lines and stark contrast of the woodcut, and the loose, emotional brush of the lithograph crayon, appealed to the artists’ expressive desires. The woodcut created an angular, high-contrast, emotional effect, not unlike what was going on in cinema at the time. Stripped of the fancy accumulations of the western tradition, so weighed with the veneer of historicity and the finesse of fine drawing, the Expressionists’ woodcuts provoked a primal, immediate response. In Max Pechstein’s image of a nursing mother, “The Infant,” and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s “Christ Among the Women,” the figures are simplified blocks, their faces rough hewn, like those in Picasso’s “Demoiselles d’Avignon,” and the African masks that inspired them. Ernst Barlach, a sculptor who turned pacifist after his experience as a soldier in the Great War, was drawn to the woodblock for its sculptural qualities—in “The Rocks” a beardless God descends to earth to admire his sculpted creation—and the exhibition features several examples of Barlach’s work, including a book of seven woodcuts he published together for wide distribution. In contrast to the rough-hewn look of woodcuts, the lithograph crayon gives a more immediate response to the artist’s hand—resulting in something resembling painting. In Lovis Corinth’s “Cain,” the first murderer appears as a dark, threatening smudge, flanked by two birds of death, looming over the viewer. There is something much lighter in the lithographs of Oskar Kokoschka, in scenes like “The Last Supper” and “Rest on the Flight to Egypt,” an almost Rococo quality in its swirling style that resembles loose pencil or charcoal sketches.

Installation view of Reconciliation: Biblical Imagination in German Expressionist Prints at BYU Museum of Art. Image by Shawn Rossiter.

Ernst Barlach’s book of seven woodcuts, “Transformations of God,” 1922. Image by Shawn Rossiter.

Expulsion from Paradise) Christian Rohlfs, “Expulsion from Paradise,” 1919, woodcut with hand-colored paint applied

Lovis Corinth, “Expulsion from Paradise,” 1920/21, lithograph

Though Europe was becoming increasingly secular at the beginning of the 20th century, biblical stories were still part of the common vernacular, effective as metaphors regardless of one’s belief. The German Expressionists were attracted to the emotive potential of religious narratives and symbols which resonated with their quest for authenticity and spiritual renewal. They were particularly drawn to scriptural scenes that echoed their thematic preoccupations with suffering, redemption, and existential crisis. There is perhaps no greater metaphor for this in the Western tradition than The Fall and subsequent Expulsion from Paradise. The former situates mankind’s condition in an individual act of volition, but  it was the latter, an event more suffered than willed, that appealed to the German Expressionists, who felt the world spiraling beyond their control.  Christian Rohlfs’ “Expulsion from Paradise,” is harsh, angular, offering little hope of redemption or return. By contrast, Corinth’s image of the same scene offers something more light and hopeful, not only in the wavy lines and splashes of color, but also in the curious inclusion of a dog with the fallen couple. Other biblical scenes, like the Crucifixion and the Passion of Christ, provided a canvas to explore deep emotional anguish and human frailty, resonating with their focus on raw, visceral expressions, while Jacob Wrestling the Angel, the Death of Absalom, and apocalyptic visions from the Book of Revelation, allowed artists to delve into themes of despair, endurance, and cosmic judgment, reflecting the tumultuous changes of the modern era.

Kathë Kollwitz, “Inspiration,” 1907, etching

Not all works in Reconciliation deal directly with scriptural sources. Käthe Kollwitz’s works, deeply empathetic but also haunting, often depict the sorrows of the poor and war-stricken, resonating with the suffering of Christ and the compassion at the heart of Christian teachings, without overt references to scriptural episodes. (They also show that an etching can be used to dramatic effect.)

Engaging with biblical themes became a mode of social commentary for the German Expressionists—decrying the spiritual vacuity of an industrialized age and calling attention to the suffering that became especially acute in the wake of World War I, the flu epidemic, and the crippling economic effects of the Treaty of Versailles. Many of these artists would go on to engage directly with the events of their time—Otto Dix and Max Beckman’s depictions of fat capitalists, destitute prostitutes and crippled war veterans immediately come to mind—but examples of works from as late as the 1960s, when Dix was working on a work like “Gethsemane,” demonstrate that, for at least some of the German Expressionists, engagement with biblical themes was an enduring preoccupation.

Reconciliation: Biblical Imagination in German Expressionist Prints, BYU Museum of Art, Provo, through Oct. 19

Shawn Rossiter

The founder of Artists of Utah and editor of its online magazine, 15 Bytes, Shawn Rossiter has undergraduate degrees in English, French and Italian Literature and studied Comparative Literature in graduate school before pursuing a career in art.