Heinrich Campendonk

Key facts

Lived

1889–1957, German

Movement

• Expressionism

Works held in

23 museums

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• What is Heinrich Campendonk known for?+

  Heinrich Campendonk is known for lyrical, sometimes fairy tale-like works. These pieces envision a mystical harmony among animals, the untamed countryside, and people.
• What is Heinrich Campendonk's most famous work?+

  Heinrich Campendonk is best known for his contributions to German Expressionism, particularly his involvement with the Blaue Reiter group. While it is difficult to single out one definitive "most famous" work, several pieces are particularly significant. One important painting is "Animal Fantasy" (1913), which demonstrates Campendonk's early style. This work displays the influence of Franz Marc and incorporates themes of animals and rural life. His paintings often featured simplified forms and symbolic colours. Another notable example is "Couple with Cat" (1925). This later piece shows a shift in his style after the First World War. During this period, Campendonk's work became more figurative, with a focus on human subjects. He also experimented with stained glass techniques, which influenced his painting style. Campendonk's prints are also well known. These include linocuts and woodcuts, which allowed him to explore similar themes. His graphic work often echoed the same subjects and stylistic elements found in his paintings.
• What should I know about Heinrich Campendonk's prints?+

  Heinrich Campendonk (1889-1957) was a German painter, designer and printmaker associated with the Blaue Reiter group from 1911. Encouraged by Herwarth Walden, whose Galerie Der Sturm promoted Blaue Reiter artists, Campendonk began making prints in 1912. His print output totals seventy-seven, all black-and-white woodcuts. Approximately a third of these were made from 1916 to 1917, when woodcut was a major preoccupation. Many were published in periodicals such as Der Sturm, Das Holzschnittbuch, and Die Schaffenden. Campendonk's prints often depict lyrical, fairy tale-like scenes. These works envision a mystical harmony between animals, untamed nature, and humans. His subject matter and prismatic forms show the influence of Franz Marc, as well as Bavarian folk art. Examples include *Seated Girl with Stag* (1916) and *The Tiger* (1916), both published by Der Sturm. After being dismissed from his teaching post at the Düsseldorf Academy by the Nazis in 1933, Campendonk emigrated to Belgium in 1934, and then to Amsterdam in 1935.
• What style or movement did Heinrich Campendonk belong to?+

  Heinrich Campendonk (1889-1957) is associated with German Expressionism, particularly the group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). This movement, active from 1911 to 1914, sought to express spiritual truths through abstract forms and symbolic colour choices. Campendonk's style combined influences from folk art, Cubism, and Futurism. His early works often featured rural scenes populated by figures and animals, rendered in bright, non-naturalistic colours. These paintings aimed to convey a sense of harmony between humanity and nature. During the First World War, Campendonk lived in seclusion in Seeshaupt, Upper Bavaria. He continued to develop his distinctive style, producing paintings, prints, and glass paintings. In 1926, he accepted a teaching position at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. However, his art was later condemned as "degenerate" by the Nazis, and he was dismissed from his post in 1933. Campendonk emigrated to Belgium in 1934, and then to the Netherlands in 1935, where he taught at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam until his death.
• What techniques or materials did Heinrich Campendonk use?+

  Heinrich Campendonk worked with various printmaking techniques. These included drypoint etching, woodcut, and lithography. Drypoint etching involves using a sharp needle to scratch directly into a metal plate, often copper. The artist applies ink to the plate, wipes it clean, and then uses a press to transfer the image to paper. The pressure of the press fuses the colour with the paper. Woodcut is a relief printing technique using wood. The artist cuts away areas of the block, leaving the design to be printed raised. Colour is rolled onto the surface, covering the point and leaving the surrounding area free. The pressure of the press is lighter than with etching; the paper remains on the surface. Lithography uses a stone or metal plate. The artist draws on the surface with a greasy crayon or ink. The surface is treated so that the ink adheres only to the drawn areas.
• What was Heinrich Campendonk known for?+

  Heinrich Campendonk (1889-1957) was a German painter and printmaker associated with the Blaue Reiter circle. He is known for his lyrical works that often depicted a mystical harmony between humans, animals, and nature, sometimes resembling fairy tales. Campendonk's style was influenced by Franz Marc's animal subjects, prismatic forms, Bavarian folk art, and colour schemes. He created seventy-seven prints, all black-and-white woodcuts. Around a third of these were produced from 1916 to 1917, a period when woodcut was a major focus for him. His woodcuts appeared in publications such as Der Sturm, Das Holzschnittbuch, and Die Schaffenden. Examples include "Seated Girl with Stag" (1916), "The Tiger" (1916), and "The Fairy Tale" (1916). After serving in the military in 1915, he was discharged due to health issues and retreated to rural Bavaria. Following the war, he shifted away from oil painting, concentrating on stained glass and murals. Campendonk taught at art schools from 1922 until 1933, when the Nazis dismissed him from the Düsseldorf Academy. He emigrated to Belgium in 1934, then to Amsterdam in 1935, and became a Dutch citizen in 1951.
• When did Heinrich Campendonk live and work?+

  Heinrich Campendonk (1889-1957) was a German painter and printmaker. He is associated with Expressionism, specifically the group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). Campendonk was born in Krefeld, Germany. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Krefeld, from 1905 to 1909. Early in his career, he was influenced by Jan Thorn Prikker, who taught at the school. In 1911, Campendonk met August Macke and Wassily Kandinsky, joining Der Blaue Reiter shortly thereafter. This association exposed him to current ideas about abstraction and colour theory. His work from this period often featured rural subjects and animals rendered in bright colours. During the First World War, Campendonk served in the German army. After the war, he moved to Bavaria. In 1926, he took a professorship at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The Nazi regime declared his art "degenerate" in 1933, dismissing him from his teaching position. Campendonk emigrated to Belgium in 1934, then to the Netherlands in 1935. He taught at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam until his death in 1957.
• Where can I see Heinrich Campendonk's work?+

  Heinrich Campendonk's artworks are held in numerous public collections, mainly in Germany. The Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich holds a strong collection of works from Campendonk's Blaue Reiter period. The collection includes paintings such as "Landschaft mit Tieren und Reitern" (1913). The Stadtmuseum Bonn possesses several paintings and prints, including his glass window designs for the chapel of Haus Roth. Other German museums with notable Campendonk holdings include the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, which has a collection of his paintings and graphic works; the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal; and the Sprengel Museum in Hanover. His work also appears in the collection of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Outside Germany, Campendonk's works can be found in the collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, in Paris. The Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard also holds some examples of his work.
• Where was Heinrich Campendonk from?+

  Heinrich Campendonk was born in Krefeld, Germany, in 1889. This city, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, was Campendonk's home for much of his early life. He received his initial artistic training there, studying under the Dutch painter Johan Thorn Prikker. Later, Campendonk's career took him to various other places. He became associated with the artistic circles in Munich, specifically the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (New Artists' Association of Munich) and later the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) group. His time in Bavaria was important for his artistic development. Due to the First World War, Campendonk moved to Seeshaupt, a small town south of Munich, where he continued to work. Later, with the rise of the Nazi regime and the condemnation of his work as "degenerate art", he emigrated to the Netherlands. He taught at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam until his death in 1957. Although he lived in the Netherlands for many years, his origins remained in Krefeld, Germany.
• Who did Heinrich Campendonk influence?+

  Heinrich Campendonk, along with Franz Marc, Marc Chagall, and Paul Klee, devalued objects in his paintings. This allowed him to reveal colour and form relationships central to abstract painting. Campendonk's work, like that of other Expressionists, aimed to subordinate the painted object to pictorial principles; the picture should captivate through expressive colour and form, rather than concrete concepts. Expressionist innovation influenced print history throughout the 20th century. Die Brücke artists, including Kirchner, Heckel and Schmidt-Rottluff, used woodcuts to formulate a new direction in art. They drew inspiration from 15th- and 16th-century German prints, and the popular woodcuts of Edvard Munch. The angularity they developed in their woodcuts was retained in their paintings. This expressive line, combined with Fauve colour, became the base of the German Expressionist style.
• Who influenced Heinrich Campendonk?+

  The Bauhaus was artistically and pedagogically revolutionary in Germany, as well as Europe. Its ambition to renovate art and architecture aligned with similar efforts, from which it drew ideas. The Bauhaus did not exist in isolation. Some believe that the school broke with all traditions and started fresh. Others suggest that many art movements and important artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries influenced the Bauhaus. These include Expressionism, Cubism, and Constructivism. The Bauhaus aimed to unite art, craft, and technology, and its curriculum included workshops in various media, such as painting, sculpture, and design. The school's emphasis on collaboration and experimentation helped to create a unique and influential artistic style.
• Who was Heinrich Campendonk?+

  Heinrich Campendonk (1889-1957) was a German painter, printmaker, and designer of stained glass. He was associated with the Blaue Reiter circle around Kandinsky and Franz Marc from 1911 onward. He showed three paintings in their first exhibition in 1911. His work often depicted a mystical harmony between humans, animals, and untamed nature. He drew inspiration from Bavarian folk art, and from Marc's animal subjects. He lived in Sindelsdorf from 1911 to 1914. Campendonk began making prints in 1912 after encouragement from Herwarth Walden, whose Galerie Der Sturm promoted the Blaue Reiter artists. He made seventy-seven prints, all black-and-white woodcuts. Around a third of them date from 1916 to 1917, when woodcut was a major focus. Many were published in *Der Sturm*, *Das Holzschnittbuch*, and *Die Schaffenden*. After serving in the military in 1915, he isolated himself in rural Seeshaupt in Bavaria. He taught at various art schools from 1922 until 1933, when the Nazis dismissed him from the Düsseldorf Academy. He emigrated to Belgium in 1934, then to Amsterdam the following year, and took Dutch citizenship in 1951.