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| Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon | |
|---|---|
| Name | Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon |
| Caption | Poster for the 1913 Berliner Herbstsalon |
| Location | Berlin |
| Dates | 1913 |
| Organizers | Herwarth Walden, Der Sturm (magazine) |
| Type | Avant-garde art exhibition |
| Notable | Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso |
Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon was a landmark 1913 avant-garde exhibition in Berlin organized by Herwarth Walden and the circle around Der Sturm (magazine). It assembled international artists associated with Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Orphism, Dada, Constructivism, Italian Futurism and Symbolism, presenting works by leading figures from Paris, Moscow, Geneva, Vienna and Zurich. The show became a focal point for debates among critics from publications such as Berliner Tageblatt, Die Aktion, La Revue Blanche and The Studio.
The exhibition emerged from Walden’s activities as editor of Der Sturm (magazine), his gallery Galerie Der Sturm, and his networks with artists tied to Blaue Reiter, Neue Künstlervereinigung München, Société Anonyme, Salon des Indépendants, Salon d'Automne and La Section d'Or. Contacts with collectors and dealers including Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Guillaume and Gustav Klimt’s circle facilitated loans. The project reflected international exchange visible in meetings among members of Deutscher Künstlerbund, Wiener Werkstätte, Städtische Galerie organizers and avant-garde patrons like Henri Matisse’s supporters and Anna Pavlova’s cultural salons. Political tensions from the policies of the Wilhelmine Period and cultural debates involving Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth and Emil Nolde framed the exhibition’s conception.
Herwarth Walden curated with assistance from critics and gallerists linked to Max Beckmann, Franz Marc, August Macke, Gabriele Münter and Emil Nolde. The roster included painters, sculptors and printmakers such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Marc, Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall, Henri Rousseau, Jacques Villon, Gino Severini, Umberto Boccioni, Marcel Duchamp, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Constantin Brâncuși, Fernand Léger, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Ernst, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Paul Signac, André Derain, Kees van Dongen, Maurice de Vlaminck, Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, László Moholy-Nagy, Kurt Schwitters, Theo van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian, Georges Rouault, Odilon Redon, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Arthur Segal and sculptors like Aristide Maillol. Institutional partners and venues were in dialogue with entities such as Kunsthalle, Museum Folkwang, Kunstverein, Galerie Der Sturm and collectors from Berlinische Galerie networks.
Works ranged from representational canvases to abstract compositions, collages, reliefs and sculptures reflecting currents like Cubism (Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris), Futurism (Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini), Expressionism (Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Egon Schiele), Orphism (Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay), Purism (Le Corbusier-adjacent artists), Constructivism (Vladimir Tatlin, Aleksandr Rodchenko), Dada precursors (Marcel Duchamp, Hugo Ball), Symbolism (Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau), and early Surrealism tendencies in works by Max Ernst and Giorgio de Chirico. The show included ceramics and designs from Wiener Werkstätte figures, prints by Edvard Munch and Käthe Kollwitz, and sculptures by Constantin Brâncuși, Aristide Maillol and Medardo Rosso. Installation choices echoed approaches found at Armory Show, Salon d'Automne 1905, Société Anonyme exhibitions, and Kunstsalon traditions.
Press reactions spanned admiration to hostility in outlets such as Berliner Tageblatt, Vossische Zeitung, Die Weltbühne, Die Aktion, Frankfurter Zeitung and La Presse. Conservative critics allied with figures like Wilhelm II’s cultural advisors and commentators from National Zeitung attacked perceived decadence, while progressive reviewers linked to Alfred Kerr, Herbert Eulenberg, Carl Einstein and Paul Cassirer defended the exhibition’s innovation. Artists and intellectuals from Friedrich Nietzsche’s reception circles, Karl Kraus’s readership and avant-garde salons reacted vividly; cartoons in Simplicissimus lampooned modernist works. International coverage appeared in The Times, Le Figaro, La Stampa, New York Tribune and Il Corriere della Sera.
The Herbstsalon took place amid pre‑World War I tensions involving diplomatic crises such as the Balkan Wars, shifting alliances like the Triple Entente and Triple Alliance, and domestic debates in the Reichstag over culture policy. Cultural nationalism championed by conservatives clashed with cosmopolitan networks linking Paris, Moscow, Vienna and Zurich. The exhibition intersected with artistic responses to industrialization represented in debates around Futurism and mechanization, and with social movements including suffrage activists associated with figures in Berlin salons. The show’s timing preceded mobilizations of artists during World War I and emigration patterns that later affected participants’ careers in cities such as New York, Paris and Moscow.
The exhibition accelerated cross‑fertilization among Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism and nascent Constructivism, influencing institutions like Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern precursors and later retrospectives at Stedelijk Museum, Centre Pompidou, Neue Galerie New York and Pinakothek der Moderne. It contributed to curatorial models later adopted by Kurt Schwitters and Theo van Doesburg, and to pedagogical practices at Bauhaus where Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky later taught. Collecting patterns by dealers such as Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and Paul Guillaume were reshaped, and émigré networks after 1914 disseminated modernist vocabularies globally, affecting movements in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Cairo and Johannesburg. The exhibition’s documentation influenced scholarship by historians linked to Arnold Hauser, Ernst Gombrich, Harold Rosenberg and Rosalind Krauss, and its ethos persists in contemporary biennials like the Venice Biennale and Documenta.
Category:Exhibitions in Berlin