Die neue Malerei (New Painting)
Berlin: Verlag Der Sturm, 1919. Third edition. Softcover. Quarto. 29 (3)pp., 16 plates. Original blue wraps with citrus color lettering on cover, protected by modern mylar. Two woodcuts on half-title, oneof them blacked out. Tipped-in color card (3 1/2 x 5 1/4") frontispiece by Marc Chagall "Kleinstadt."
Herwarth Walden exposé on the new art (Expressionism) on the occasion of the establishment of the periodical "Der Sturm." Walden claims Expressionism to be a philosophy (Weltanschauung), not a fashion. He goes further in claiming that the history of art is a repetitive process of two major forms of art: Impressionism and Expressionism. Walden fends off the notion that Expressionism is primitive, emphasizing that it is the Impressionism that is primitive. Art is the design of feelings per se, he claims, and the design of feelings is movement. We can't just be observers if we want to feel. Dilettantism in art is not due to lack of technical knowledge, it arises due to the lack of mental insight.
Art doesn't develop, art isn't made, art isn't even created, art creates. Next to the woodcut and frontispiece, the exposé contains sixteen two color plates on glossy paper, in brown or green tones, with works by Kandinsky, Chagall, Marc, Boccioni, Léger, Campendonk, Klee, van Heemskerck,Bauer, Muche, Nell Walden, Topp and Molzahn. List of major expressionistic painters and sculptors plus publisher's advertisement at rear. Text in German. Wraps with light wear along top edges and sunned along edges. Block age-toned. Half-title page with light creasing at top, effecting upper woodcut, and light abbrasion next to woodcut. Pencil underlining on page 22. Good condition. Item #48666
Price: $150.00