These abstract tendencies make an essential contribution to the spiritual quality that Marc claimed for his art. Although Rossi is centred, the work is visually dynamic, and the generalised and stylised qualities of the painting incorporate elements that are recognisably abstract.įranz Marc, Dog Lying in the Snow, 1912, oil on canvas The curved and angular lines show Cubist influences. Rossi is seen close up at eye level, which gives the painting an intimate quality. The colours of Dog Lying in the Snow are high keyed and pure – the snow is white, the dog is yellow, and the shadows are green. It is a study in relaxed calm, all the more so because of its domestic and personal subject. Dog Lying in the Snow (1912) is a charming depiction of the artist’s own dog, Rossi. As a result of these productive influences and associations Marc took comparatively little time to attain his mature style exemplified by Large Red Horses.Ī painting by Marc from this period was included in the European Masters show at Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria in 2010. Marc’s development also benefited from his ongoing association with avant garde painter friends Wassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944 ) and August Macke (1887 – 1914). Marc’s development as an artist received a major boost from his acquaintance with recent development in European art: his experience of seeing an exhibition of the highly coloured and expressionist art of Dutchman Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 90) and his familiarity with the new Cubist art – fractured and semi abstract – from Paris. Early on these were naturalistic, though more impressionist in colour and style than realist. An example, much reproduced, is Large Red Horses (1911).įranz Marc, Large Red Horses, 1911, oil on canvasįrom the beginning of his career as an artist Marc was drawn to painting animals. In particular, Marc is famous for boldly coloured paintings of curvaceous horses in richly expressionist reds, yellows, blues and mauves, situated in flowing and abstracted landscapes. 3 While expressionist art (particularly when German) is usually thought of as edgy and psychologically uneasy, Marc’s art is typically different: an art of sensuality, joy and bucolic delight. 1880) is reputed to be the best loved of the German Expressionists. This piece is dedicated to exploring that connection between Marc’s art and his responses to the war.įranz Marc (b. Yet I believe the Great War has a significance for Marc’s art that has been too easily overlooked in the now exceptionally well documented career of this major painter of the early Modernist era (a three volume catalogue of the artist’s entire oeuvre: Franz Marc: the complete works, was published in 2004). Marc’s death in battle does not define his life or art in the way that tragic deaths can do: indeed, it may seem to have little bearing on these as the art and the war seem to occupy entirely disparate universes. That afternoon at 4pm Marc was killed by shrapnel from a shell blast. Two days later Marc wrote again to Maria, concluding on a reassuring note:ĭon’t worry, I will come through, and I’m also fine as far as my health goes. I must stop the transport of the wounded, which will take this letter along, is leaving. On 2 March 1916, German artist Franz Marc wrote to his wife Maria from the front line of the infamous World War One battlefield at Verdun:įor days I have seen nothing but the most awful scenes that the human mind can imagine … Stay calm and don’t worry: I will come back to you – the war will end this year.
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