The Expressionist Roots of Modernism [Hardcover]

Peter Lasko (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0719064104 | ISBN-13: 978-0719064104 | Publication Date: November 8, 2003

This book challenges the commonly held view that Paris is where Modern Art was created. It refutes the assertion that Picasso and Matisse were the creators of the modern movement, and that it was not in France but in Germany between 1906 and 1914 that artists took the fundamental steps, intellectually as well as artistically, that were to determine the course art was to take for the rest of the century. It was the Russian émigré in Munich, Vassily Kandinsky, who first argued the case for total abstraction in art and for a total right of self-expression. This led directly to non-objective painting, to the nihilism of Dada, and eventually to the post-1945 New York School. The author shows that artists have long gone beyond abstraction in their exploitation of that search for originality, granted to them by the theoretical position taken up in the second decade of the 20th century in Germany.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Scrupulous and detailed research has resulted in a text that is readable and enlightening, as well as distinctive in its voice and approach. Lasko puts forward many excellent points, offering both original insights and new angles on familiar subjects."--Shearer West, University of Birmingham

About the Author

Peter Lasko is Emeritus Professor of History of Art and former Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Manchester University Press (November 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719064104
• ISBN-13: 978-0719064104
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,133,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > German Expressionism

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