Question 1

Where can I see Christian Schad's work?

Accepted Answer

Christian Schad's work can be viewed in a number of European museums. These include the Kunstmuseum in Basle, the Kunstmuseum in Berne, and the Kunsthaus in Zurich. Others are the Petit Palais in Geneva and the Kunstmuseum in Winterthur.

In the United States, museums holding Schad's art include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Outside the US and Europe, Schad's work can be seen at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. In the UK, collections are held at the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, the Geffrye Museum in London, the Manchester Art Gallery, the National Museums of Scotland (Royal Museum) in Edinburgh, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Question 2

What should I know about Christian Schad's prints?

Accepted Answer

Christian Schad produced prints, including colour woodcuts and woodcuts, during the early part of his career. Examples include "Schlemihl's Encounter with the Shadow" and "Artillery Site", both colour woodcuts. He also produced portrait woodcuts, such as "Portrait of van Violen" and "Portrait of Dr. Griesebach".

Woodcut techniques allowed artists to fix a singular form permanently. The mechanical process of printing could unite phases of work into a whole. The artist could extend the work of giving form without danger. This allowed for reworking to achieve expression and formal realisation. The mystery of printing attracted those who occupied themselves with craftsmanship. Exploring prints sheet by sheet allowed one to know an artist better.

Question 3

Why are Christian Schad's works important today?

Accepted Answer

Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764-1850) was a German sculptor who helped establish Neoclassicism. He directed the Berlin Academy and wrote essays that influenced later artists, on topics such as classical proportions and human physiognomy.

Schadow's sculptures avoided the cool rationalism sometimes associated with Neoclassicism, due to their realism and combination of beauty with originality. His early training included drawing lessons at the Academy of Arts, where he enrolled in 1778. From 1785 to 1787, he lived in Rome, where he studied classical sculpture and befriended Antonio Canova.

His piece, Quadriga (1793), sits atop Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. The sculpture, featuring the Roman goddess Victoria, became a symbol of Prussian victory after Napoleon stole it in 1806. It was returned to Berlin in 1814, after which an iron cross was added to Victoria’s wreath.

Another noted work is his 1797 double portrait of Princesses Louise and Frederica of Prussia. Schadow used Neoclassicism to connect imperial rule in ancient Rome with aristocratic rule in Germany. The sculpture balances the high social position of the girls with youthful innocence.

Question 4

What techniques or materials did Christian Schad use?

Accepted Answer

Christian Schad is known for painting, particularly his work with glass. In glass painting, the artist applies colour or tonal value to achieve the intended effect through melting, which then becomes a filter of light. Hues appear by selective absorption or diffusion of specific light wavelengths.

Schad would apply vitreous paint mixed with substances that provide colour and opacity to reduce the amount of light. From about 1430, glass painters adopted stylistic methods from oil paintings and graphic arts, achieving a high level of creative and technical skill.

The glass became the pictorial support, comparable to wood or canvas in painting. Glass artists abandoned the rules that governed the medieval window, using colour naturalistically. They opened pictorial backgrounds "to the outside". Light, usually falling from the upper left, originates from an imaginary source. Corporeal modelling and shadows were also introduced.

Schad would use a soft brush (badger blender) to blend watery black or brown vitreous matting paint. From about 1510, a more advanced technique became dominant: wet stippling, a refining of the wet, matted surface through stippling with a large, soft brush (again a badger blender) or with a fine sponge or cloth.

Question 5

Who did Christian Schad influence?

Accepted Answer

It is difficult to identify specific artists directly influenced by Christian Schad. However, one can discuss the artistic movements with which he was associated, and the artists who participated in those movements.

Schad is associated with New Objectivity, a German art movement that arose in the 1920s, as well as with Dada. New Objectivity, or Neue Sachlichkeit, was in part a reaction against expressionism, and its practitioners favoured a more realistic and detached style. Other artists associated with New Objectivity include Otto Dix, George Grosz, and Max Beckmann.

Schad's involvement with Dada, a movement that rejected logic and embraced absurdity, also connects him to a wider artistic circle. Dada artists such as Hugo Ball, Hans Arp, and Marcel Duchamp explored unconventional techniques and challenged traditional artistic norms.

Question 6

Who influenced Christian Schad?

Accepted Answer

Christian Schad has been called the coldest of the New Objectivity painters, a group of German artists who sought a new kind of objective realism. Schad's work has the precision of a surgical operation. He was grouped with Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Gerhard Richter, and Charles Sheeler.

In 1917, while serving as a soldier during World War I, Schad met Carlo Carra in Ferrara; both artists then began to paint in a similar manner. From 1906 to 1908, Giorgio de Chirico attended the Munich Academy, where he became fascinated by Max Klinger's fantastical work and Arnold Böcklin’s mythological scenes. From 1911 to 1915, de Chirico lived in Paris, largely untouched by Cubism.

Question 7

What is Christian Schad's most famous work?

Accepted Answer

Christian Schad is associated with the New Objectivity movement; he painted portraits and cityscapes. His most famous work is often cited as *Self-Portrait with Model*, also known as *Self-Portrait with Erna*. Painted in 1927, it shows Schad with a model in his studio. The painting is celebrated for its sharp realism and psychological insight, typical of the New Objectivity style. Schad's approach combined a cool, detached observation with meticulous detail, reflecting the social and cultural atmosphere of the Weimar Republic. Other notable works include *Portrait of Dr. Griesebach* from 1917 and *Artillery Site* from 1915. These pieces also demonstrate his skill in capturing the essence of his subjects and the spirit of his time.

Question 8

What style or movement did Christian Schad belong to?

Accepted Answer

Christian Schad is associated with Dada and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). His Dada activities occurred mainly in Zurich and Geneva. Around 1918, he invented "Schadography", a camera-less photographic technique where objects were placed on sensitised paper and exposed to light. Dada was not a school but a diverse group that began in Zurich in 1916. Dada artists rejected traditional conceptions of art and culture, nationalism, and militarism.

By 1921, Schad returned to figurative painting, and by 1925, he had reached his mature style of Neue Sachlichkeit, the idiom for which he is best known. Schad's work in this style often featured portraits and genre scenes with references to the Renaissance period. The New Objectivity movement aimed to achieve a new kind of unidealised, objective realism. Schad has been described as the coldest of the New Objectivity painters. His paintings have precision and exactitude.

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Where to See Christian Schad

About Christian Schad

🇫🇷 France

Musée National d'Art Moderne

🇩🇪 Germany

Lenbachhaus

Neue Nationalgalerie

🇪🇸 Spain

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

🇨🇭 Switzerland

Kunsthaus Zürich

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