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Originally Posted by Cida
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Thanks for this post!
No, I hadn't heard of him either, except as a "name" in the group Der Sturm, along with Kandinsky, Klee, and a couple of others.
I appears this group was among the first to go totally abstract, and present "non-objective" art. Others had described this movement initially as paintings of "the spirit". Indeed, Kandinsky painted to music, and transcribed his emotions and responses to the music onto his canvas. He loved the line, color, and integration of shapes and form, emoting on the canvas, rather than trying to represent an object already present.
Regarding Bauer, it was interesting that the Nazis had even imprisoned him for daring to produce such "deviant art". Can you imagine such innocent and non-representative symbols and line being "deviant"??? If those same Gestapo could have seen what is considered "deviant" today (and, I'm not just speaking about art...) they'd have died from shock!
The art that began to represent other than idealistic / beautiful human form or recount "acceptable" moments in history was such an incredible anti-establishment movement, that society at first wasn't able to accept it, handle it, or understand it.
Art as protest and sarcasm was also part of the movement.
Anyway, in Bauer's work, I can definitely see the influence of Kandinsky, Klee, as well as the concentration on form, weight, mass, and perspective from Cezanne and the Cubist's influence.
It also was fascinating to read about how one powerful financier and art-lover could bring an artist to the forefront back then - via sponsorship and one-man shows to high society. It seemed that any artist who was "inventing" new subject matter was the "flavor of the day", and enjoyed immediate (but sometimes fleeting) success. Lucky (but later, unfortunate) for Bauer that he met Guggenheim.
Bauer was subject to this temporary fame via his sponsor, but as often was the case, became prisoner under Guggenheim's thumb and contractural confines.
The play about his life sounds very intriguing - would love to see it!
BTW, when was this documentary on PBS? I'd like to see it - maybe it will be on again.
thank you for sharing this! I'm very interested in the backstories of the "evolution" of art, and the artist's personality behind the concepts as well as the specific pieces.
I hope you won't mind posting any more such interesting info again! I'll do the same, if anyone is interested. Maybe a thread could be devoted to something like this.
Cheers!
Dandiday
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Non-objective art and the uproar (and fame) it brought
