Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ZILLE SEASON
Born in Dresden in 1858, Heinrich Zille moved to Berlin with his family when he was a
child. A lithographer by trade, he became the first prominent artist to evoke the social
development of the city as the tendrils of modernity reached Berlin. His instantly re-
cognisable style depicted everyday life and real people, often featuring the bleak Hin-
terhöfe(back courtyards) around which so much of their lives revolved. Even during
his lifetime Zille was acknowledged as one of the definitive documenters of his time,
and since his death in 1929 his prolific photographic work has also come to be seen as
a valuable historical record.
In 1903 Zille was accepted into the Berliner Secession, although he didn't really re-
gard himself as an 'artist' as such, but more as a hard-working illustrator. When he
died, thousands of Berliners turned out to pay their respects to the man whose pic-
tures chronicled their daily lives with sharp humour and unsentimental honesty.
There's a Zille Museum in the Nikolaiviertel dedicated to his life and work.
Expressionism
In 1905, Kirchner, along with Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, founded the artist
group Die Brücke (The Bridge) in Dresden. It turned the art world on its head with ground-
breaking visions that paved the way for German expressionism. Shapes and figures that
teeter on the abstract - without ever quite getting there - drenched with bright, emotional
colours, characterise the aesthetic of Die Brücke. It moved to Berlin in 1911 and disbanded
in 1913. The small Brücke Museum in the Grunewald has a fantastic collection of these in-
fluential canvases.
Ironically, it was the expressionists that splintered off from the Berliner Secession in 1910
after their work had been rejected by the Secession jury. With Max Pechstein at the helm,
they formed the Neue Secession. The original group continued but saw its influence waning,
especially after the Nazi power grab in 1933.
The Bauhaus
The year 1919 saw the founding of the Bauhaus movement and school in Weimar. It was
was based on practical anti-elitist principles bringing form and function together, and had a
profound effect on all modern design - visit the Bauhaus Archiv for ample examples. Al-
though the school moved to Dessau in 1925 and only to Berlin in 1932, many of its most in-
fluential figures worked in Berlin. It was forced by the Nazis to close down in 1933.
