Artist Monographs

László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946), painter, photographer, Bauhaus teacher and founder of the “New Bauhaus” and the “School of Design” in Chicago, is one of the most important artist personalities of the modern age. As one of the first artists to work in multiple media, who practised painting, sculpture, photography, film and design as equally valid art genres, he set standards which are still relevant today.

When Paula Modersohn-Becker’s artist friends examined her extensive estate a few weeks after her death, they were overwhelmed. They only gradually realised that in the painter, who had died so young, they had had an outstanding artist in their midst. Modersohn-Becker was largely unrecognised during her lifetime but is regarded today as one of the pioneers of Expressionism.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, when Alfons Mucha went to the United States for four years as a lecturer, the world-famous poster designer, Art-Nouveau book illustrator, designer, photographer and painter was greeted with enthusiasm. Mucha is regarded as one of the most important representatives of Jugendstil; he knew how to move between the various genres more skilfully than virtually any other artist of his day.

Angelica Kauffman (1741–1807) is regarded as the first woman artist of European standing. Well educated and very well connected, she enjoyed an international reputation. She pursued a brilliant career and was one of the outstanding artist personalities of the Classical Age in London and Rome. She was admired by Goethe and Herder and her clients included queens and emperors from across the continent.

Wilhelm Leibl (1844–1900) is regarded as one of the most significant portraitists and an important representative of Realism in Europe. With large-format illustrations of 40 paintings and 60 drawings, this volume accompanies the first comprehensive museum exhibition with a focus on portraits and representations of figures to be shown in Switzerland and Austria.

Making van Gogh focuses on the œuvre of Vincent van Gogh in the context of its reception. The publication examines the particular role which German gallerists, collectors, critics and museums played in the story of his success. At the same time it sheds light on the importance of van Gogh as a role model for the avant-garde generation of artists.

Heinz Mack is an artist who has left his mark on our times. He has made a pioneering contribution to the question of a new concept of art, which has been of fundamental importance since the post-war period. This volume offers for the first time a monograph with an overview of Mack’s philosophy of art as well as his multi-faceted oeuvre: from ZERO and the legendary Sahara Project to light art and his most recent paintings.

Georg Baselitz's various creative phases are exemplified by 31 of his masterpieces that are held within the Bavarian State Painting Collections. The volume analyses for the first time these important paintings and sculptures within the context of the history of the collection, which has been shaped not only by the artist’s outstanding supporters and collectors, including Duke Franz von Bayern, but also by the passionate commitment of the directors and curators of the museum.

The painting Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894) is an icon of Impressionism.This volume presents the work in the context of Caillebotte’s innovative artistic work, introducing him as a driving force in the establishment of Impressionism and describing his intensive exchanges with his fellow-artists.

A master of colour and an ambitious cosmopolite: Hans Purrmann (1880–1966) was an authoritative figure who forged links in European Modernism both as an artist and a personality, as a stylist and a figure of social integration. The balance between a record of what he saw and the visual reflexion of painting as a form of expression hovers lightly in his pictures.