German Expressionist Painting

by Peter Selz

Traces the development of Expressionism in Dresden, Munich, and Vienna between 1905 and 1914

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

379 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Peter Selz was a German-born American art historian who specialized in German Expressionism.

Reviews

[Giovanni García-Fenech · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first comprehensive study of German Expressionism written in English (in 1957). Very informative, but tends to become a bit of a name soup, which is particularly annoying when the artists being discussed are not illustrated. Also, the "plates" are inconveniently located in the back of the book. Considering that they're all black and white images printed on the same paper stock as the rest of the book, it would have been easy and much better to intersperse them in the text, saving the reader the distraction of having to continuously flip back and forth. All niggling aside, this is a good resource for students of modern art, and a necessary reminder that not everything of importance in that period was happening in Paris.

[Bob Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough and well written book. Too bad so many of the plates are in black and white.

[Sps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've met Mr. Selz, but I was still surprised at how funny this book is. It's probably just because he loftily puts down artists, movements, or particular paintings, and insults, let's face it, are funny.

For example: he describes a certain group of painters who retreated to gloomy German villages to paint en plein air and then dismisses them as 'ingrown.' Not inbred, ingrown. Perfect.

[Stephen]

This is hardcover, 1957, UC Press