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Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (Karl Schmidt until 1905; 1 December 1884 – 10 August 1976) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker; he was one of the four founders of the artist group Die Brücke.
From 1884 to 1919, the Bamum Kingdom, as well as other large areas of Africa and Asia, were colonized by the German Empire. Colonial collections were often acquired through military campaigns, raiding, and looting; the Benin Bronzes are a notorious example .
- Childhood and Early Period
- Mature Period
- Later Period
- The Legacy of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Karl Schmidt was born in Rottluff, a small town in eastern Germany where his father owned a mill (he added the name of his birthplace to his own name in 1906). As a child, he attended the Humanistische Gymnasium, a secondary school that focused on the classics, including the arts. There he met Erich Heckel, who was a year older. Their friendship fl...
Schmidt-Rottluff moved to Berlin just a few years before the outbreak of World War I; he was conscripted in May 1915 and served for three years on the Eastern Front. As a non-combatant attached to the Press Unit, he was able to continue making art, although the circumstances and emotional trauma meant that he was unable to paint. Nevertheless, he c...
Just a few years later, Schmidt-Rottluff's status and acclaim began to diminish as the Nazi party rose to power, and when Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the artist was forced out of the Academy. The subsequent years were difficult for him, as he was soon branded a degenerate artist and in spring 1941 was forbidden from painting, though he contin...
Schmidt-Rottluff's legacy is most strongly felt through the Brücke Museum, which currently holds over 1,000 works by artists associated with Die Brücke and manages the artist's estate. The museum acts as the single most comprehensive collection of German Expressionism in the world. Through annual exhibitions and rigorous scholarship, the museum has...
- German
- December 1, 1884
- Rottluff, Germany
- August 10, 1976
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (Karl Schmidt until 1905; 1 December 1884 – 10 August 1976) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker; he was one of the four founders of the artist group Die Brücke.
Aug 5, 2024 · Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was a German painter and printmaker who was noted for his Expressionist landscapes and nudes. In 1905 Schmidt-Rottluff began to study architecture in Dresden, Germany, where he and his friend Erich Heckel met Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Fritz Bleyl, two other architecture.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
From 1933 onwards, the art policies pursued by the Nazis denounced Schmidt-Rottluff’s art as “degenerate”; in 1933, he left the Prussian Academy of Arts and his works were removed from German museums.
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was a German painter and printmaker, known for being one of the founding members of the Expressionist group Die Brücke (The Bridge). His work is characterized by bold colors, dynamic compositions, and a focus on emotional expression, which aligns with the key tenets of German Expressionism.
