"The Blue Rider" : watercolours, drawings and prints from the Lenbachhaus Munich : a dance in colour /

The publication of this authoritative exhibition catalogue of 206 illustrated works on paper by The Blue Rider artists coincides with the centennial of the founding of the illustrious German Expressionist group in 1911. The Lenbachhaus in Munich holds an unrivaled, nearly all-embracing single collection of the work of The Blue Rider group. From this trove comes this selection of watercolors, drawings, and prints on paper, card, cardboard, and celluloid by 16 international artists. In addition to work by the core artists Kandinsky, Marc, Munter, Macke, Klee, von Jawlensky, and von Werefkin, there are pieces by Bloch, Campendonk, Delaunay, von Kahler, Kubin, Lasker-Schuler, Sacharoff, and Eduard and Elsa Schiemann. Lacking are comparative illustrations of David and Vladimir Burliuk, Jean Bloe Niestle, Schonberg, Feininger, Goncharova, and Elizabeth Epstein. This catalogue examines works stylistically, symbolically, and within a historical context, including that of Black-White, The Blue Rider's second show, in 1912. The translation is not always smooth and clear, but the digitized plates are remarkable; e.g., Kubin's washed-and-sprayed India ink drawings are astonishing. This volume is finely bound at reasonable cost, but it has an incomplete bibliography and lacks an index. Summing Up: Recommended. Large collections supporting graduate students and researchers/faculty; general readers. M. M. Hamel-Schwulst formerly, Towson University