SALZBURG.- In the exhibition, which includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints from 1907 to 2011, the term “expressionism” is studied through almost two hundred works by some eighty artists from the Museum der Moderne Salzburg collection. It was prompted by the investigation of the collection by Beatrice von Bormann, the curator for modern art, who joined the museum last year. “A critical approach to our collection looking from a modern perspective at the different aspects in it is a central task of the museum’s research team,” says Sabine Breitwieser, director of Museum der Moderne Salzburg. “Salzburg has an intimate connection with Oskar Kokoschka and the “Schule des Sehens” (School of Vision). With that in mind, we wished to examine the extent to which Expressionist forms of art are represented in our collection.”

“The museum has outstanding Expressionist works of art, mostly by Austrian and German artists,” adds curator Beatrice von Bormann. “This gives us the opportunity to study the geographical spread of Expressionism and the differences between the forms of Expressionism between 1900 and the 1980s. The collection unfortunately does not do justice to the important role of women within the various phases of this movement.“

In Expressionism, particularly painting, the exact representation of reality is secondary to the act of painting and the emotional expression. The German painter Franz Marc described this endeavor in 1912 as “subjective transformation of nature.” As an artistic concept, Expressionism can be traced from its early form, particularly before World War I, through the interwar years, to Abstract Expressionism and the Neo-Expressionism of the 1960s and 1970s. This continuous line is highlighted in the exhibition, which is arranged partly thematically and partly chronologically, through works from the museum’s own collection. The graphic works have been specially organized to reveal the networks of artists and geographical locations.

Also thanks to a number of permanent loans, Museum der Moderne Salzburg has an outstanding selection of early Expressionist art, including works by Oskar Kokoschka, Emil Nolde, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, as well as representative Neo-Expressionist works by artists such as Markus Lüpertz and Georg Baselitz. A specifically Austrian version of expressive realism in the 1960s to 1980s is represented by artists like Georg Eisler and Alfred Hrdlicka. The Neue Wilden are present in the form of large-format works by Siegfried Anzinger, Gunter Damisch, Herbert Brandl, Thomas Reinhold and Hubert Scheibl. Several works are being shown for the first time, including the latest pieces by Georg Eisler and Rudolf Kortokraks.

Artists shown in the exhibition: Siegfried Anzinger, Karel Appel, Christian Ludwig Attersee, Georg Baselitz, Max Beckmann, Herbert Boeckl, Georg Wilhelm Borsche, Herbert Brandl, Günter Brus, Heinrich Campendonk, Gunter Damisch, Otto Dix, Jean Egger, Georg Eisler, Adolf Erbslöh, Anton Faistauer, Conrad Felixmüller, Paul Gangolf, Richard Gerstl, Otto Gleichmann, George Grosz, Margarete Hamerschlag, Anton Hanak, Felix Albrecht Harta, Carry Hauser, Erich Heckel, Matthias Holl, Wolfgang Hollegha, Rudolf Hradil, Alfred Hrdlicka, Ernst Huber, Jörg Immendorff, Asger Jorn, Martha Jungwirth, Edmund Kalb, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Ferdinand Kitt, Oskar Kokoschka, Anton Kolig, Käthe Kollwitz, Rudolf Kortokraks, Maria Lassnig, Markus Lüpertz, August Macke, Frans Masereel, Ludwig Meidner, Jürgen Messensee, Jean Metzinger, Josef Mikl, Alois Mosbacher, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, A. R. Penck, Georg Pevetz, Traudel Pichler, Peter Pongratz, Markus Prachensky, Thomas Reinhold, Christian Rohlfs, Georges Rouault, Christian Schad, Hubert Scheibl, Egon Schiele, Hubert Schmalix, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Josef Schulz, Karl Stark, Anton Steinhart, Wilhelm Thöny, Andreas Urteil, Johannes Wanke, Karl Anton Wolf