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Max Pechstein

Somali Dance (Somalitanz), 1910

Description

Maker

Title

Somali Dance (Somalitanz)

Year

1910

Medium

Woodcut with handcoloring on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

Image: 33.7 x 38.6 cm (13 1/4 x 15 3/16 inches)

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

20.656

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Circus

August 1, 2014 - February 22, 2015

Like many other German artists of his time, Max Pechstein embraced African and other non-European art as an uncorrupted and more authentic antidote to the stultified refinement of German society. Here his deliberately crude execution—rough gouges, simplified forms, and contrasts of color—heightens the “primitive” aspects of his subject.

This print is based upon a dance Pechstein saw at an ethnographic show in Berlin or Dresden. Products of colonialism, Völkerschauen (“people shows”) were presented in zoos and at circuses and world’s fairs, displaying foreigners for the entertainment of European audiences. During these highly staged shows, participants donned costumes, played instruments, sang, and danced.

Dreams and Nightmares

November 5, 2004 - January 23, 2005

In his search for an alternative to industrialized Wilhelmine society, Die Brücke artist Pechstein took up aggressive lines and bold colors based on his study of art considered to be “primitive,” especially early German woodcut prints and African and Pacific Islands sculpture.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Somali Dance (Somalitanz) with the accession number of 20.656. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.