Max Pechstein

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.

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.