The Blue Rider

by Peter Vergo

Book by Vergo, Peter

Genres: Art

Hardcover

First published July 1, 1977

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Paul Vergo's 1977 The Blue Rider, the large and full colour artistic plates Vergo features (a variety of pictures by Vasily Kandinsky, Heinrich Campendonk, August Macke, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, Alexey von Jawlensky, Paul Klee, Robert Delaunay, Natalya Goncharova, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Sonia Delaunay-Terk), they are absolutely aesthetically stunning and spectacular (read majorly gorgeous) and in this particular with regard to Kandinsky, Macke and Marc also represent some of my absolute favourite images of German Expressionism and in particular of the Munich based (but very cosmopolitan in its outlook) early 20th century art group of Der blaue Reiter, of the Blue Rider of the book title (although admittedly, I do really want and even need more pictures by both Paul Klee and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, I do desire as much of their artwork as Vergo features by Vasily Kandinsky, August Macke and Franz Marc). But yes and to be honest, the featured paintings of The Blue Rider, it visually (and even with not enough by Klee and Kirchner for my tastes) totally demonstrates the vibrancy, life and colour of The Blue Rider and of their artistic Weltanschauung (not one all encompassing rather external and often political vision of Expressionism like that of the Dresden based group Die Brücke, The Bridge, but more an internal and very much subjective, individualistic Expressionism, where the individual artists of Der blaue Reiter lived together, travelled together, loved and appreciated each other, sometimes even worked together, took inspiration and constructive criticism from each other, but always created and celebrated their very own specific and intensely personal visions, presenting each artist's innermost souls and how he or she envisioned the world).

However, while the artwork of The Blue Rider rates as solidly and delightfully four stars (but no, not quite five stars, since I do as already alluded to above find it quite annoying to only encounter three Paul Klee paining and one by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in The Blue Rider), what Paul Vergo writes about Expressionism and his short biographies of six of the eleven artists whose works are featured in my humble opinion leaves a bit to be both emotionally and also academically, intellectually desired for and by me.

Sure, Vergo definitely and also decently enough points out with both his introductory words about Expressionism and with the featured artwork what Der blaue Reiter was like as a group. But considering that so very many Expressionist artists and actors throughout much of Western Europe (not just in Germany) not only readily supported WWI and thought that this war would create a new and shiningly glowing society but also died rather en masse in action (and that the original acceptance and even glorification of WWI in both Expressionist art and writing soon ended up being replaced by anguish and a realisation that war is horrid and evil), that this is all being pretty much totally ignored by Peter Vergo in The Blue Rider and with nothing at all about Expressionism in literature being included at all (except for Vergo very briefly stating in their very basic and only barely adequate outline biographies that both Franz Marc and August Macke died on the battlefields of France but never mentioning that in particular Franz Marc had a very strong and all encompassing belief in the necessity and importance of a global conflict to positively change society), no, what Peter Vergo writes about Expressionism and about the artists of Der blaue Reiter is really too informationally lacking and as such so frustrating for me and for my reading tastes that my rating for The Blue Rider can only be three stars (and that I really can and only recommend The Blue Rider for the wonderful and nicely extensive featured artwork).