German Painting in the 20th Century

by Franz Roh

German art, whether Gothic, expressionistic, or abstract, is an art of great intensity and inwardness. This book shows how the many currents of modern art which have swept over Germany have been transformed by its creative genius. Germany was host to many foreign pioneers, from Kandinsky to Klee. Every modern movement had its German masters who are generously represented in this posthumous work of art historian Franz Roh... All modern movements, from impressionism to objectivism are thoughtfully treated, including a few honest pages on the unfortunate Nazi episode... Written in a descriptive style, this is a generously illustrated, authoritative one-volume survey. (Library Journal)

259 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

Franz Roh was a German historian, photographer, and art critic.

Roh was born in Apolda (Thuringia), Germany. He studied at universities in Leipzig, Berlin, and Basel. In 1920, he received his Ph. D. in Munich for a work on Dutch paintings of the 17th century.

In his 1925 book Nach Expressionismus: Magischer Realismus: Probleme der neuesten europäischen Malerei ("After expressionism: Magical Realism: Problems of the newest European painting") he coined the term magic realism.

During the Nazi regime, he was isolated and briefly put in jail, a time he used to write the book Der Verkannte Künstler: Geschichte und Theorie des kulturellen Mißverstehens ("The unrecognized artist: history and theory of cultural misunderstanding"). After the war, in 1946, he married art historian Juliane Bartsch.

Roh died in Munich.

Roh was an Art Historian, photographer, and critic. He absolutely hated photographs that were to be like a painting, charcoal, or drawings. Roh was briefly imprisoned for his book Foto-Auge (Photo-Eye).

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Roh

Reviews

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

As may be expected from the title, this book summarises the movements and lives that shaped German painting in the 20th century. This is done masterfully, blending writing with knowledge to create an eminently readable and highly informative work.