Early engagements: Peripheral British responses to German Expressionism

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract

This essay on the British response to German Expressionism (part of Weikop’s wider research on the British reception of modern and contemporary German art) is a contribution to an important new volume that explores the reception of Expressionism outside of Germany. This essay is groundbreaking in being the first to explore the earliest reception of Expressionism in the UK, unearthing and interpreting hitherto unconsidered primary sources. The essay is particularly focused on the woodcut culture of the Expressionist movement, and explores the Francophile bias of the Bloomsbury group and the reasons for British critical reticence concerning Expressionism. Weikop reflects on the surprisingly abrasive language sometimes used to characterise a ‘German’ style of art that many critics felt was an affront to British aesthetic sensibility and connoisseurial notions of ‘good taste’. Sections of the essay consider the complex origins of the term ‘Expressionism’, the Brücke’s connections to the British and German Arts and Crafts movement, Rupert Brooke’s early encounters with Expressionist art, the early British reception of Kandinsky, the British metropolitan and regional reception of Expressionism, and the Bloomsbury marginalization of Expressionism, a marginalization that was critiqued by Herbert Read and others. This essay includes research on the first exhibition devoted to Expressionist art to be seen in the UK, simply entitled ‘Modern German Art’, and staged at the Twenty-One Gallery just three months before the outbreak of World War One. This exhibition has been mentioned but not considered in the literature to date, and the cover to the very rare catalogue is published in this essay for the first time. Weikop considers the critical response to this exhibition, including an enthusiastic review by Wyndham Lewis in the first issue of his Vorticist magazine Blast (1914), but argues that the impact of the war ultimately disrupted any further positive reception.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Routledge Companion to Expressionism in a Transnational Context
EditorsIsabel Wünsche
Place of PublicationNew York; Abingdon
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter14
Pages275-294
Number of pages20
ISBN (Electronic)9781351778008
ISBN (Print)9781138712553
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2018

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Expressionism British Reception

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Early engagements: Peripheral British responses to German Expressionism'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this