An Alle Künstler! (To All Artists!)

Max Pechstein

1881–1955

An Alle Künstler! (To All Artists!), 1919

Where object was made: Berlin, Germany

Material/technique: lineblock

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 20 x 14 x 0.4 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 7 7/8 x 5 1/2 x 0 3/16 in

Credit line: Museum Purchase: Elmer F. Pierson Fund

Accession number: 2010.0002

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts," Mar-2010, Steve Goddard
Pechstein was a founding member of the radical groups Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Work Council for Art) and the Novembergruppe (November Group, referencing the 1918
November Revolution in Germany). In 1919 the November Group published the pamphlet To All Artists! The publication featured a striking cover by Pechstein, which, in Antony Griffith's words, "crudely conveys the almost religious fervour of this entirely secular, passionately utopian call for socialized art in a socialist state." The booklet includes an introduction by Johannes R. Becher, and texts by Ludwig Meidner, Max Pechstein and six others. It was illustrated by Pechstein, Cesar Klein, "Richter-Berlin" (Hans Richter), Milly Steger, and Georg Tappert.

Before the War, Max Pechstein was affiliated with the German group Brücke (Bridge). At the outbreak of hostilities he lived in Palau, in the Pacific, and was confined by the Japanese. He managed to make his was back to Germany, where he was drafted and sent to the Somme front, only to be relieved from duty in 1917 due to a mental collapse.