The Blaue Reiter Almanac

by Klaus Lankheit

The Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) art movement was founded in 1911 by the young painters Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, and was active in Europe until 1914. Originally published in Munich in 1912 and edited by Kandinsky and Marc-- the movements's almanac presented their synthesis of international culture to the European avant garde at large. In both the selection of essays and its innovative interplay of word and image, The Blaue Reiter Almanac remains one of our most critically important works of literature on the art theory and culture of the twentieth century. This edition, long unavailable in English and indispensable to any student of Modernism, simulates the original German format, and includes documents, and musical notations, as well as seminal essays by Kandinsky, Schoenberg, Marc and others. Nearly 150 illustrations, from ancient and contemporary sources, capture the wide-ranging interests and passions that inspired Kandinsky's and Marc's programmatic attempt to make Modernism accessible across national and chronological boundaries. Also included is Klaus Lankheit's extensive critical introduction, which places the Blaue Reiter in context for contemporary readers.”The almanac remains unique among European writings on art; no other country produced a comparable work capturing the excitement and tension of the years before World War I.” (Will Grohmann)

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Nonfiction, Music

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1912

Reviews

[Eduardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant set of essays, paintings and art. A snap shot of pre-WWI idealism and the still present drive to have art be more than simply form. Worth reading and looking at. Franz Marc & Wassily Kandinsky where amazing men & artists.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Algunos artículos son muy interesantes, otros no tanto. No obstante, una lectura imprescindible para amantes del arte.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

pleasantly surprised by the amount of interesting music writing in a volume i expected to be more exclusively about painting. very cool essay by arnold schoenberg about the relationship between music and text-- i wasn't even aware that schoenberg was involved with the blaue reiter until i read this

[Nathaniel Klaung · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Calliope100 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed; I found it quite boring.

[Tory Adkisson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kandinsky and Marc were incredible artists. They were not, however, coherent prose writers, and the Blaue Reiter suffers from that--it's dense, overlong, convoluted, and quite recursive. A few of the essays fare better than others, and the Almanac certainly functions well as an introduction to Kandinsky and Marc's particular brand of German Expressionism, but it's not much for casual reading.

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book.

A solid show is coming up from this group:

http://www.museum-frieder-burda.de/in...