Expressionism, with its glaring pathos and intense emotionality, left its mark on the artistic aspect of the first quarter of the 20th century, particularly in Germany. Painting, music, architecture and poetry, but also the new medium of film saw the emergence of creative artists who formed a sharp contrast to the creed of supposedly objective portrayal which had been in force until that time. Paul Klee postulated that “Art does not reproduce what is visible, it makes things visible." Thus reality is captured not by imitating external shapes but rather through the artistic embodiment of emotional processes.

An important addition

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein, Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinsky or Karl Schmitt-Rottluff: these and other great painters of the epoch were also outstanding graphic artists. “In its intensity, graphic art was scarcely inferior to painting,” says Michael Matile, Curator and Deputy Director of the Collection of Prints and Drawings. He has designed the current exhibition with important works of Expressionist fine art printing gathered together over four decades by the Swiss collector Fritz Schaufelberger. Schaufelberger has now promised to donate the collection to the Collection of Prints and Drawings. According to Matile, this will enable its scope to be significantly increased. Expressionism was scarcely represented here previously.

Erich Heckel (1883-1970): Young Girl, from: Genius, Year 2, 1920. Woodcut. (Photo: Collection of Prints and Drawings, ETH Zurich)

A vivid language

The collector was born the son of an engineer in Germany in 1920, and even as a young man he followed the events taking place in contemporary culture with interest. He witnessed the National Socialist prohibition of Expressionism as “degenerate art”. Later, as a grammar school teacher of German in Baden and subsequently headmaster, he deepened this interest with a steadily growing collection of fine art prints from the epoch. He successfully combined this with the intention of communicating the Expressionist culture to schoolchildren.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944): Apple Tree. from: W.K.: Klänge, Munich 1913. Colour woodcut from three woodblocks. (Photo: Collection of Prints and Drawings, ETH Zurich) large

This was how generations of grammar school students were able to study, on the works themselves, the way that Expressionism manifested itself in the graphic arts. “The hard contrast between the black and white surfaces in a woodcut, the brittleness of the layers of lines in etchings and drypoint engravings and the richly nuanced characteristics of lithography have developed into an astonishing and vivid language of movement," explains Michael Matile.

Franz Marc (1880-1916): Tiger. 1912. Woodcut. (Photo: Collection of Prints and Drawings, ETH Zurich) large

The Expressionists were swimming against the tide not only in an aesthetic sense but also socially: they felt themselves to be the avant-garde, determined to pose something new and more dynamic as an alternative to the bourgeoisie, which was regarded as outdated. Artists’ associations such as the “Brücke” (Bridge) or “Der Blaue Reiter” (The Blue Rider) lent great weight to the movement’s image for some time.

Magazines as disseminators

Numerous cultural magazines such as “Die Aktion” or, as the leading voice, “Der Sturm” also played an important role as melting pots and mouthpieces. They also published original graphic artworks in addition to Expressionist texts. The systemized popularization of the new artistic agendas and their protagonists took place through channels such as these.

Herwarth Walden, art dealer and publisher of “Der Sturm”, was a central authority in this respect. Walden helped young artists such as Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner or August Macke to establish themselves through the early publication of their works. Michael Matile explains that, “The intention was for the works to be made widely available. Often unsigned and without numbers, they trusted entirely in the language of art and were not primarily intended to serve as items in exclusive collections.” – The Schaufelberger Collection also documents vividly this aspect of Expressionism as an alternative to the conventional art trade.