Poster Schlemmer

Carl Hofer was born in Germany in 1875. He was a German expressionist painter and the director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most important painters of the Expressionist movement, his work was among those that were considered degenerate art by the Nazis. He studied in Karlsruhe under Hans Thoma. He first visited Paris in 1899 making acquaintance with Julius Meier-Graefe. In 1902, he studied in Stuttgart and became friends with the sculptor Hermann Haller. His wife Mathilde Scheinberger was Jewish but later joined the Protestant faith. They traveled around Europe to Rome and Paris, where he was influenced by Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso. In 1908, he showed his work at the Berlin Succession founded by Max Liebermann. In 1913, he became a member of the New Freie Secession and was represented at its first exhibition in 1914 with Liebermann, Erich Heckel, Ernst, Ludwig, Kirchner, Max Pechstein and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. After the first World War, he became a Professor at the College of Fine Arts in Charlottenburg. During the 20s, Hofer represented his style, which was later referred to as Magic Realism. After a love affair, Carl and Mathilde lived separately but remained married. With the rise of the Nazi party, he was fervently against the movement writing articles such as Fascism, the dark reaction, which was published by the Communist newspaper Welt am Abend. The Nazis claimed he was a Jew and defamed him on a poster in 1933 with Oskar Schlemmer. In the degenerate art exhibition in 1937, the Nazis represented 8 of his works as a propaganda exercise and in 1938 he was expelled from the Prussian Academy of Arts because of his marriage to Mathilde. He later divorced her but was still no longer allowed to sell his works. He married his lover Elizabeth Schmidt and the ban was lifted. Sadly his ex-wife was deported to Auschwitz and was killed in November 1942. After World War II, he regained his artistic prestige receiving awards and honorary doctorates and was very involved in the construction of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. Many of his works hang in modern art galleries and collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany and Bavarian State Picture Collection, among many others. By the time of his death in 1955, he was considered one of the greatest living artists of his time.

While “expressionist” is used to describe any art that avoids naturalism and instead employs a bold use of flattened forms and intense brushwork, Expressionist art formally describes early-20th-century work from Europe that drew on Symbolism and confronted issues such as urbanization and capitalism. Expressionist artists experimented in paintings and prints with skewed perspectives, abstraction and unconventional, bright colors to portray how isolating and anxious the world felt rather than how it appeared. 

Between 1905 and 1920, Austrian and German artists, in particular, were inspired by Postimpressionists such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh in their efforts to strive for a new authenticity in their work. In its geometric patterns and decorative details, Expressionist art was also marked by eclectic sources like German and Russian folk art as well as tribal art from Africa and Oceania, which the movement’s practitioners witnessed at museums and world’s fairs.

Groups of artists came together to share and promote the themes now associated with Expressionism, such as Die Brücke (The Bridge) in Dresden, which included Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and investigated alienation and the dissolution of society in vivid color. In Munich, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, instilled Expressionism with a search for spiritual truths. In his iconic painting The Scream, prolific Norwegian painter Edvard Munch conveyed emotional turmoil through his depiction of environmental elements, such as the threatening sky.

Expressionism shifted around the outbreak of World War I, with artists using more elements of the grotesque in reaction to the escalation of unrest and violence. Printmaking was especially popular, as it allowed artists to widely disseminate works that grappled with social and political issues amid this time of upheaval. Although the art movement ended with the rise of Nazi Germany, where Expressionist creators were labeled “degenerate,” the radical ideas of these artists would influence Neo-Expressionism that emerged in the late 1970s with painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente.

​​Find a collection of authentic Expressionist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.

Revitalize your interiors — introduce drawings and watercolor paintings to your home to evoke emotions, stir conversation and show off your personality and elevated taste.

Drawing is often considered one of the world’s oldest art forms, with historians pointing to cave art as evidence. In fact, a cave in South Africa, home to Stone Age–era artists, houses artwork that is believed to be around 73,000 years old. It has indeed been argued that cave walls were the canvases for early watercolorists as well as for landscape painters in general, who endeavor to depict and elevate natural scenery through their works of art.

The supplies and methods used by artists and illustrators to create drawings and paintings have evolved over the years, and so too have the intentions. Artists can use their drawing and painting talents to observe and capture a moment, to explore or communicate ideas and convey or evoke emotion. No matter if an artist is working in charcoal or in watercolor and has chosen to portray the marvels of the pure human form, to create realistic depictions of animals in their natural habitats or perhaps to forge a new path that references the long history of abstract visual art, adding a drawing or watercolor painting to your living room or dining room that speaks to you will in turn speak to your guests and conjure stimulating energy in your space.

When you introduce a new piece of art into a common area of your home — a figurative painting by Italian watercolorist Mino Maccari or a colorful still life, such as a detailed botanical work by Deborah Eddy — you’re bringing in textures that can add visual weight to your interior design. You’ll also be creating a much-needed focal point that can instantly guide an eye toward a designated space, particularly in a room that sees a lot of foot traffic.

When you’re shopping for new visual art, whether it’s for your apartment or weekend house, remember to choose something that resonates. It doesn’t always need to make you happy, but you should at least enjoy its energy. On 1stDibs, browse a wide-ranging collection of drawings and watercolor paintings and find out how to arrange wall art when you’re ready to hang your new works.