Where to See August Macke

August Macke's work can be viewed in several European museums. In Germany, these include the Brücke Museum and the Nationalgalerie in Berlin; the Kunsthalle and Sammlung Bottcherstrasse in Bremen; the Ludwig Museum and Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne; the Folkwang Museum in Essen; and the Kunsthalle and Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Other German locations are the Niedersachsisches Landesmuseum in Hanover; the Stadtische Kunsthalle in Mannheim; the Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen in Munich; the Stiftung Ada und Emil Nolde in Seebüll; and the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal. Macke's work is also held at the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe. Outside of Germany, one can find his pieces at the MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Art/Contemporary Art in Vienna, Austria. Additionally, the Guggenheim Museum in New York has exhibited Macke's art.

August Macke, a painter and watercolourist associated with German Expressionism, was born in 1887 and died in action in 1914. He befriended Franz Marc and Vasily Kandinsky, exhibiting at the Blaue Reiter exhibitions in 1912. Macke moved away from Kandinsky's abstract approach, becoming more interested in Robert Delaunay's use of colour. He applied this to scenes of city life, showing people strolling through parks or window-shopping. Although Macke was a prolific artist, creating thousands of drawings and watercolours, he made very few prints. These include a lithograph from 1905, five linoleum cuts from 1907, and six more linoleum cuts from 1912 to 1913. All of Macke's known prints are in black and white. Two were published in the journal *Der Sturm*, and one was published posthumously by the Bauhaus. Macke also designed carpets, pottery, and glass paintings.

August Macke (1887-1914) was a German painter and watercolourist associated with the Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He moved away from Vasily Kandinsky’s abstract leanings, preferring Robert Delaunay’s fractured colour planes. Macke applied this to scenes of urban life, painting people strolling through parks and window-shopping. Macke's brief career produced a large number of works: some ten thousand drawings and watercolours. He also designed carpets and made pottery. With Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet, he travelled to Tunisia in April 1914, where he produced many sketches and watercolours. His work is important for several reasons. He was a skilled colourist. As a member of Der Blaue Reiter, he contributed to the development of Expressionism. His art offers a view into early 20th-century urban life. Although he died early in the First World War, his work continued to be recognised. Even after the Nazis condemned him as a degenerate artist, some German officers protested the seizure of his paintings. Macke's works are regularly exhibited in museums in Germany and the United States.

August Macke was a painter, watercolourist, and decorative artist. He befriended Franz Marc and Vasily Kandinsky, and he exhibited at both Blaue Reiter exhibitions in 1912. However, Macke distanced himself from Kandinsky’s metaphysical approach to abstraction, and was instead increasingly influenced by Robert De.

August Macke wrote in a letter to Walden in 1913, 'We do not live for art. But art is our life'.

August Macke was a painter, watercolourist, and decorative artist who experimented with a range of media. Although he is best known for his paintings and watercolours, he also designed carpets, pottery, and glass paintings. Macke created a large number of works on paper; some ten thousand drawings, sketches, and watercolours exist. His prints are rarer, and include a lithograph from 1905 and linoleum cuts made between 1907 and 1913. Some of these linoleum cuts were published in *Der Sturm*, and one was published posthumously by the Bauhaus. Macke was interested in the interplay of colour and light. The experience of his travels to Tunisia with Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet in 1914 influenced his work. He incorporated fractured forms of colour and light into his paintings, such as *Girls Amongst Trees*. He explored the use of colour to unite figures with their surroundings, creating a sense of movement through the alternation of light and dark, cold and warm tones.

August Macke's work, though cut short by his early death in the First World War, had an impact on German Expressionism. He befriended Franz Marc and Vasily Kandinsky, exhibiting at both Blaue Reiter shows in 1912. Although he distanced himself from Kandinsky's abstract leanings, Macke's association with the group exposed him to fellow artists. Macke's style incorporated elements from various sources. He was influenced by Robert Delaunay's use of fractured colour, which he applied to scenes of modern life. Macke, along with Paul Klee and Franz Marc, learned from Cubism, largely through Delaunay, how to organise a canvas using interacting planes. This allowed them to suggest movement and depth while maintaining the picture-plane's unity. Macke's interest in artistic synthesis, colour, and line led him to Paris, where he studied Manet, Seurat, and Denis. His designs for the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus production of *Little Red Riding Hood* in 1906, consisting of flattened trees and moving, coloured curtains, demonstrate his early exploration of simplified forms.

August Macke was influenced by a number of artists and aesthetic ideas during his short career. Correspondence indicates that he was excited by two paintings by Matisse and a collection of Japanese masks he saw in Hagen in 1910. Macke's early work in stage design also shaped his aesthetic. His designs for a 1906 production of *Little Red Riding Hood* involved flattened, simplified forms and arrangements of colour. This production led him to equate a modern formal vocabulary with formal flattening and nearly abstract arrangements of line and colour. His interest in artistic synthesis, colour, and line led him to the writings of Meier-Graefe and to trips to Paris, where he studied Manet, Seurat, and Denis. Although Macke exhibited at the Blaue Reiter exhibitions in 1912, and was included in their almanac, he distanced himself from Kandinsky’s metaphysical approach to abstraction. He was increasingly influenced by Robert Delaunay’s use of fractured rays of colour, applying it to his luminous scenes.