Product Description

Franz Marc A Retrospective

Annegret Hoberg and Helmut Friedel

This comprehensive collection celebrates the work of Franz Marc, a pioneer of Germany's Expressionist movement.

Before his career was tragically cut short by World War I, Marc had gained recognition as a co-founder with Wassily Kandinsky of the influential Blue Rider Group. Marc, whose primary focus was the world of animals, is now recognized as one of the greatest of the German Expressionists. This chronologically arranged book brings together more than 300 of Marc’s works. It includes perceptive comments about the artist’s life, examples of his correspondence, and insight into the unique symbolic language he employed to make sense of the difficult times in which he lived.

Annegret Hoberg is a curator in the Lenbachhaus in Munich, Germany, which houses one of the most extensive collections of Franz Marc in the world. She is the author of numerous books on art, many published by Prestel.

Helmut Friedel is the Director of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, and has published extensively on modern and contemporary art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #401877 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Best known for his paintings of horses, German expressionist Franz Marc (1880–1916) was a painter with a self-consciously intellectual bent, neither as revolutionary as Picasso nor as lyrical as Matisse. This thorough, carefully arranged retrospective (published along with an exhibition at the Lenbachhaus in Munich) traces his development from early pastoral scenes to later cubist-inspired canvases he created while part of the Blue Rider group he founded with Wassily Kandinsky; in the process, this catalogue clarifies the motivations of this very earnest painter. Particularly useful is an essay by Barbara Eschenburg, who sheds light on Marc's interest in Darwin and Nietzsche. Eschenburg shows how Marc's animals—typically embedded in a flat, crystalline-patterned space—represent an intuitive oneness with nature that has been lost to a Western culture obsessed with the individual. Annegret Hoberg provides a handy biographical overview, and Isabelle Jansen's essay explains Marc's attention to Egyptian, Japanese and other "exotic" cultures, considered at the time to represent an unspoiled ideal. With a more complete set of reproductions (including sketches and sculptures) than Mark Lawrence's 1989 study, Franz Marc, and more affordable than the ongoing multivolume Complete Works series, this is an excellent resource for both the scholar or the general reader. (May)
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Review
"...more affordable than the ongoing multivolume, this is an excellent resource for both the scholar or the general reader." -- Publishers Weekly, March 2006

"Substantial, elegant, and well thought-out catalog… finely conceived, affordable volume." -- Library Journal, May 2006

Customer Reviews

Absolutely beautiful
This book is a gorgeous example of what a monograph should be. Its heavy paper stock and color reproduction does Marc's glorious colors justice, and the pictures are given the room, the white space, and the high print quality they deserve. The price is likely too high for someone unfamiliar with his work to take the gamble, but for those who already have an appreciation for Marc, I would urge them to consider investing in this lovely collection rather than any number of lesser books.

franz Marc
The book really is a treat. Very much like actually attending a major
art retropspective at a museum. A big plus of the book is the series of pictures of drawings that one rarely sees in any exhbition particualry of this artist. The text is well structured and the ideas fluent. The extent of the examination of paintings has depth and is a visual delight. Truly a book to have in one's collection as well as to share.