![]() This decision caused considerable controversy since Marc was killed while serving Germany during World War I. The painting was included in the Degenerate Art exhibition that opened in July 1937 in Munich. In 1937, the German Nazi Party launched its campaign against modern art and began confiscating artworks that they considered ‘degenerate’ from museums and galleries. After World War I, the painting was acquired for the contemporary section of the National Gallery in Berlin. The exhibition was modeled after the French Salon d’Automne (Autumn Salon) and was the largest and most significant exhibition held in Germany before World War I. In the fall of 1913, the painting was exhibited in the First German Autumn Salon in Berlin. If so, the tower of horses would be a rhythmical repetition of the successive movement of a single horse. ![]() At the same time, given Marc’s interest in Futurist art, this could be an interpretation of how Futurist painters, like Giacomo Balla, represented a movement in paintings like Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912). The four horses possibly signify the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which relate to the atmosphere and tension before World War I. ![]() Like the title suggests, the composition can be interpreted as a cluster of horses. Besides, orange and blue are complementary colors, and in Marc’s color theory, this combination was harmonious and celebratory. The blue and red in the bottom created a high intensity, which needed to be broken up with the softness of the yellow. The blue symbolized the male principle, severe and spiritual, and the yellow marked the female principle, gentle, cheerful, and sensual. Like in other artworks, Marc applied his theory of color symbolism to the painting. In essence, the bottom of the painting is a deeply saturated blue that gradually transitions to light yellow and orange tones in the rainbow on the top. This vertical motion is mainly established through color. The artist created a tight composition, in which all of the elements move upward. The artist sent this ink and gouache sketch on a postcard to the German Jewish poet Else Lasker-Schüler, who was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressionist movement. Marc’s preparatory work is visible in The Tower of Blue Horses (1912). The large canvas (200x130cm) is representative of the height of Marc’s artistic achievement. The Tower of Blue Horses is a fine example of the bridging point between his focus on the natural world as evidenced in his earlier works and the more abstract focus found in later works such as Broken Forms.The Tower of Blue Horses is equally known for its aesthetic and artistic significance, and for its fascinating history. ![]() The carnage of World War 1 could not have been foreseen but the opportunity for cleansing and a fresh start for Europe are hinted at in this painting, reinforced by the use of the strong blue colour, which often symbolises hope in Marc's work. Painted in 1913, The Tower of Blue Horses can be seen as a work which is looking towards the coming war with a mixture of foreboding and hope. The crescent moon was commonly used by German impressionists to symbolize the apocalypse and with it all the connotations of rebirth and renewal. The reading of the painting as containing an apocalyptic yearning is reinforced by Marc's use of the crescent moon which is prominently displayed on the chest of the first horse. This gives the painting a feeling of tension and almost anxiety as these huge, cold horses tower above us without any respite or depth in the painting. There is a distinct lack of depth in the painting and the horses tower over us as does the landscape in the background of the painting. Repeating lines, a hallmark of Marc's work, are seen throughout The Tower of Blue Horses and provide the work with a rigid structure that reinforces the strength of the composition and the power of the four horses. Looming above the viewer, the four blue horses can be taken to represent the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the bold blue colours impart a cold and foreboding feeling to this work.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |