Nature-Urbanism-Disaster: The Expressionist Zeitgeist

Nature—Urbanism—Disaster: The Expressionist Zeitgeist is a digital exhibition catalogue that analyzes the ways Expressionists in France and Germany responded to the great cultural, historical and political upheavals of the early twentieth century. Curated by the students in Dr. Sarah McGavran’s writing-intensive course Fauvism and Expressionism in Europe, c. 1905-1945 at Washington University in St. Louis during spring semester 2015, it consists of this introductory section and eleven digital exhibitions. Each of the digital exhibitions includes a thematic introductory essay and three catalogue entries on individual works of art. In this way, the students illuminate how specific artworks in the internationally renowned collections of modern art at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and the Saint Louis Art Museum bespeak broader Expressionist themes of nature, urbanism and disaster. 

For links to the students' digital exhibitions, including the catalogue entries on individual artworks, click here.

Background images:

LEFT: Henri Matisse, Bathers with a Turtle, 1908. Oil on canvas, 71 1/2 x 87 in. Saint Louis Art Museum.

RIGHT: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Portrait of a Woman, 1911. Oil on canvas, 31 3/4 x 27 3/4 in. Saint Louis Art Museum.