August Macke Paintings

August Macke – A Life of Promise Befallen by Tragedy

August Macke was born on the 3rd of January 1887 in the German town of Meschede in the Ruhr Valley. From 1906 to 1908 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts and the Arts and Crafts School in Dusseldorf. His artistic life spans just eight years as he was killed in action at the beginning of the First World War aged just 27. Poetically, his last work finished shortly before the war began is entitled, ‘Farewell’.

At the Dusseldorf theatre, renowned for its director and the outstanding actress, Louise Dumont, Macke, contributed costumes and stage designs. He travelled Europe visiting Holland, Italy and Belgium before arriving for the first time in Paris. The trip was financed by the famous collector and uncle of his future wife, Bernard Khoeler.

Together Khoeler and Macke visited exhibits and artists in Paris. It was here that Macke received his introduction to Fauvism and Cubism, the works of Robert Delaunay and Paul Cezanne. Through Macke, Koehler was influential in contributing financially to The Blue Rider Almanac (a very important contribution to Modern Art) to which Macke also contributed articles. Bernard Khoeler also went on to finance the largest European avant-garde art exhibit ever held in Germany, the Erster Deutscher Herbst Salon, and in 1913 in Berlin, Herwarth Walden’s, Sturm Gallery. It was through Khoeler that Macke became gained his understanding of the Paris art market and made his acquaintance with Ambroise Vollard, the art dealer.

Macke studied with Lovis Corinth, the famous German oil painter and print maker in Berlin. But Corinth’s way of correction and the oppressiveness of the city did not suit his personality and he was more influenced by his friendship with Franz Marc and his ensuing contributions to the Blue Rider Group with the Russian Painter, Wassily Kandinsky. However, it wasn’t the theoretical concepts of Marc and Kandinsky that were of interest to Macke. Instead his vivacity and his love of life combined with his special relationship to colour led him to experiment with various forms of his own, developing a variance of Cubism. Macke wasn’t interested in rural scenes or the fast pace of modern life, his forte was the often elegantly dressed human figures in silent man made surroundings ranging from the river banks to the circus scenes, to shop windows. These were scenes rarely found in German Expressionism, scenes of people reading books, of quiet conversations, and of people watching animals on the bank as the river flowed by.

Not only was Macke an accomplished painter, he also produced designs for stained glass windows, designs for embroideries, and was a sculpture. He participated, actively in two exhibitions, The Rhenish Expressionists in Bonn and also the First German Fall Salon, In Berlin. The power of colour and its ability to construct distance and space fascinated Macke and allowed him to make both the surroundings and figures of equal importance. Such was his colour balance that he avoided the fantastic and apocalyptic forms of his friends in the Blue Rider Group. There is no doubt that the influence of Delaunay’s orphic colours is evident in his work but Macke’s strong and vigorous character interpreted the various influences in to works which are unique and independent and are closely allied to French developments in the arts rather than expressionist works of the period.

Macke earned a special place in the development of Modern Art with his direct and simple approach to his lively colours, his daily life, and his carefully balanced compositions improved his images of the his column like figures. The balanced and serene visions he painted show a world of visual poetry which separated him from the more forceful works of his expressionist friends.

August Macke

The power of color is evident in the expressive and significant art works of August Macke. A whole hearted expressionist by nature August Macke used color to articulate his own personal feelings and state with regards to emotion and artistic perceptions and beliefs. His work thus capturing the artists emotional responses to the subject matter.

In this way Macke differed significantly from friend, fellow German expressionist and founding member of The Blue Rider group – Der Blaue Reiter. While both these artists use color in a highly expressive way their work is distinctive: Particularly if one was to compare their later works – People By A Blue Lake (Leute am Blauen) created by Macke in 1913 and The Fate of the Animals created by Marc in the same year. Marc spoke of Macke after his death describing the artists as “the one who gave colors the brightest and purest tone of us all”.

August Macke was among the more significant members of The Blue Rider Group. Born in Westphalia Germany in 1887 he died on the Front in Champagne 1914 just two months after the beginning of WWI. While August Macke’s artistic career was relatively it developed during a particularly innovative time artistically – Therefore, one could certainly say that August Macke was one of the brightest candles which burnt for the shortest time.

For fellow Expressionists such as Marc and Kandinsky colors signified and described emotion as well as more abstract spiritual values: The onus being upon the latter. For August Macke the onus was upon utilizing color in a personal and individually expressive way: What Marc referred to as “Joyful living through nature”: Although not all his works were ‘joyful’. Indeed, his ultimate oil painting (unfinished) now titled Farewell clearly corresponds’ the artist’s despondent and uncertain mood; implying Macke perhaps felt that an early death was a real possibility.

From the age of thirteen August Macke lived in Bonn with his family. He did travel to the Netherlands, Tunisia, Switzerland and Italy. Macke also travelled to Paris on several occasions, the first being in 1907. It was here the artist first came into contact with the work of the Impressionists. His painterly style developed initially upon the oeuvre of Impressionists. The work of French Impressionist Matisse had a notable influence upon Macke – In their mutual affinity for radiant and luminous color as well as simplified form.

In 1910 he became friends with artist Franz Marc and Kandinsky. Macke shared some initial interest with The Blue Riders non-objective interpretations as well as their symbolic and the spiritual interests. However, ultimately he interpreted and combined the essence of these concepts to develop his own individual artistic perspectives. The Post Impressionists also influenced his work but it was Robert Delaunay’s Chromatic Cubism which become somewhat of a revelation for the artist in 1912.

Macke integrated and developed those artistic concepts which interested him the most: French Impressionism and Cubism, Italian Futurism as well as German Expressionism. And he was extremely successful with regards to how he incorporated and balanced those concepts. Macke travelled to Tunisia with Paul Klee and Moilliet in 1914 and the luminosity of the oil painting series he produced around this time are highly accomplished – indeed, they are considered to be among this artist’s greatest works.

August Macke was among the fourteen artists to exhibit work in the first "First exhibition of the editorial board of Der Blaue Reiter" (Erste Ausstellung der Redaktion Der Blaue Reiter) which ran for almost three weeks from December 18th 1911. The show then moved to some major cities across Europe which included Budapest, Oslo, Frankfurt and Cologne. Expressionism prospered in Germany for twenty years (from around 1905) and unquestionably had the greatest influence upon August Macke’s oeuvre.

Both Macke and Marc were killed in action. Kandinsky, Jawlensky and Werefkin were dispatched to their Russian homeland. With primary members dispersed by the outbreak of WWI in1914 the group dissolved. In addition, differences of opinion had begun to divide the group. However, Kandinsky, Klee, Jawlensky and Feininger regrouped in 1923 as The Blue Four – Die Blaue Vier. Today the Städtische Galerie in Munich holds one of the largest collections of paintings by members of The Blue Rider Group in the world: Which includes some of August Macke’s finest art works.

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