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| Neue Secession | |
|---|---|
| Name | Neue Secession |
| Established | 1910 |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Type | Artists' association |
Neue Secession was an artists' association and exhibition movement founded in Berlin in 1910 by painters and sculptors who split from an earlier group. It organized a series of influential shows that brought together figures from Expressionism, Fauvism, and early Modernism, challenging established museums and conservative juries. The group became a nexus connecting artists from Berlin to Paris, Prague, Munich, and Vienna, intersecting with major figures and institutions across Europe.
The formation of the Neue Secession followed a schism with the Berlin Secession after disputes over the inclusion of avant-garde works by artists associated with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Die Brücke, and others. Tensions involved curators and jurists from the Nationalgalerie, patrons tied to the Prussian Academy of Arts, and critics writing for journals like Die Aktion and Der Sturm. Key precursors included exhibition controversies at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin and responses to salons in Paris such as the Salon d'Automne, which had earlier provoked the formation of groups like the Salon des Indépendants. The new association aimed to counter exclusionary policies of the Secession movements and to provide an alternative platform to institutions such as the Akademie der Künste and the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum.
Founders and early participants included artists connected to Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, and dissident circles around Wilhelm Uhde and Alfred Flechtheim. Prominent figures who exhibited with the association comprised Max Pechstein, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel, Otto Mueller, Gabriele Münter, Alexej von Jawlensky, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Franz Marc. The roster also embraced sculptors and painters like Gerhard Marcks, Georg Kolbe, Max Beckmann, Ludwig Meidner, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, Christian Rohlfs, Max Slevogt, Fritz von Uhde, Hans Purrmann, Josef Eberz, August Macke, Marie Laurencin, Käthe Kollwitz, Rudolf Belling, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and Hermann Struck. Collectors and dealers allied with the association included Hugo Simon, Paul Cassirer, Alfred Flechtheim, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, and Pablo Picasso appeared in networks even when not exhibiting directly.
The Neue Secession mounted annual and irregular exhibitions in venues across Berlin including halls associated with Galerie Sturm, private salons run by dealers such as Paul Cassirer and Alfred Flechtheim, and public spaces once occupied by the Nationalgalerie. Shows often featured work previously rejected by juries at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition and responded to international exhibitions like the Salon des Indépendants, the Armory Show in New York City, and presentations at the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Catalogues and programs engaged critics from Alfred Kerr, Herwarth Walden, and Siegfried Jacobsohn; they commissioned essays by writers associated with Das Kunstblatt and Die Weltbühne. Touring exhibitions connected the Neue Secession with galleries in Munich, Dresden, Leipzig, Prague, Vienna, and Zurich, creating dialogues with institutions like the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Haus der Kunst, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen.
Artistic styles shown ranged from the colorist experiments of Fauvism figures linked to Henri Matisse and André Derain to the angular Expressionist vocabularies of Die Brücke and the abstract tendencies of artists tied to Der Blaue Reiter, including Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. Critics from Paul Westheim to Ludwig Justi debated whether the exhibitions represented "degenerate" tendencies or vital modernization, with reviews appearing in Vossische Zeitung, Berliner Tageblatt, and avant-garde magazines like Der Sturm and Die Aktion. International reaction included commentary from curators at the Museum of Modern Art, collectors such as Peggy Guggenheim, and dealers like Giorgio Castelfranco, while academic responses came from figures at the University of Heidelberg and lectures at the Berlin University of the Arts. The press coverage and polemics influenced debates at cultural policy centers including the Prussian Ministry of Culture and municipal arts councils in Berlin.
The Neue Secession operated as an association with rotating committees of artists, jurors, and dealer representatives resembling governance models used by the Secession (Vienna), the Munich Secession, and the Salon des Indépendants. Membership included full members, invited guests, and corresponding members from abroad such as artists from Paris, Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and London. Administrative responsibilities were often shared among organizers like dealers Paul Cassirer and editors Herwarth Walden, while patrons including Hugo Simon and municipal figures provided funding. Meetings referenced exhibition precedents set by the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and procedural norms from the Royal Academy of Arts in London; legal matters occasionally involved consultation with lawyers connected to the Prussian Justice Ministry.
The association's exhibitions and network helped accelerate acceptance of Expressionism and abstraction in museums such as the Nationalgalerie, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, and later acquisitions by the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern. Its alumni and associates shaped movements including Neue Sachlichkeit, Constructivism, and later Bauhaus faculty circles like Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. Collecting practices influenced by the association informed holdings of the Museum Ludwig, the Neue Nationalgalerie, and private collections assembled by Samuel Courtauld and Joseph Duveen. The debates provoked by the group fed into 20th-century controversies over exhibitions labeled by the Nazi Party as "degenerate art" and into postwar restitution discussions involving institutions like the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and collectors such as Alfred H. Barr Jr..
Category:German art movements Category:Expressionism Category:Artists' groups