A Symphony of Colors: Unraveling the artistic brilliance of August Macke

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August Macke (1887-1914) was a master of German Expressionism, a movement which sprang up in the early 1900s with the intent to forego physical reality in search of its emotional counterpart, with a particular emphasis on expressing dark moods of tragedy and angst. Macke was a master of color and form, producing eye-catching canvases that evoke a strong sympathetic reaction in the viewer.

The text below is the excerpt of the book August Macke (ISBN: 9781783101542), written by August Macke and Walter Cohen, published by Parkstone International.

In the joy of a sunny day, invisible ideas materialise quietly.
– August Macke

August Macke (1887-1914) was born in Meschede in the Sauerland region and is of Westphalian origin. However, as he moved into the Rhineland very early and spent most of his short life on the Rhine, he has always been described as a typical Rhinelander.

When the Cologne Art Association opened the near-historical exhibition “The Young Rhineland” at the beginning of 1918, the heart of the event was the first retrospective exhibition for August Macke, who died in the second month of the war. “Young Rhineland” represents Macke in a purer sense than the well-known artist association that was founded later in Düsseldorf. Anyone who dismisses Macke’s art with the term “decorative” fails to understand that the young Rhenish artist’s paintings signify everything that defines character and strength.

The Old Violonist, 1906, August Macke — The Old Violonist, 1906. Oil on canvas, 65.6 x 46 cm. Private collection.

This art is largely attributable to its optical appearance which is closely interlinked to the indescribable joy and richness of colour of the Rhenish landscape. Earlier Düsseldorf artists were also attempting to reproduce these same landscapes, but the majority of these productions, with the exception of the German illustrator and painter Caspar Scheuren (1810-1887), appear extremely pale and unreal.

Macke also focussed on the appearance of objects, and did not always avoid veduta-like productions. You may look in vain for the healthy Rhenish sensuality in the later productions of the Romanticism on the Rhine, even where it remains totally terrestrial.

Whilst Macke looked for the soul of things, the appearance of his works was not unfaithful, as substantiated by his work The Rhenish Landscape with Factory (1913). The subject for this painting was literally on his way when leaving the northern parts of Bonn where his home was located, in order to walk to the Rhine. And there, encamped behind the seven mountains, was the factory; for most people a frustrating contrast, but the painter counted it a blessing and much more than just a “theme”.

Elisabeth Gerhardt Sewing, 1909, August Macke — Elisabeth Gerhardt Sewing, 1909. Pastel, 53 x 41.5 cm. Galerie Utermann, Dortmund.

The then 26-year-old artist, with the resources of early Expressionism and his own range of colours, so rarely seen amongst the palettes of professional landscape artists, had created the unity of nature and audaciously integrated work of man. The remarkable sureness of his design, which shows up in this small picture, can already be found in his very early works, such as the Naked Girl with a Headscarf (1910).

Macke spent a short time at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. However, he owes more to Paris, which he frequently visited. Of the younger artists in Paris, Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) was closest to the Rhinelander. More important was his friendship with Franz Marc (1880-1916), which was forged in 1909 in Tegernsee, where the newlywed had spent some time with his young, and rarely sympathetic, wife. In the first volume containing his letters, recordings, and Marc’s aphorisms, published in 1920, Macke dedicated ten of the most beautiful aspects of his friendship with Macke, including an obituary from the battlefield of 25th October 1914. I hope this will finally put an end to the legend that Macke was only on the receiving end in this friendship. For me, there never was the slightest doubt that the younger artist was superior in originality of his pure artistic talent to the somewhat doctrinal painter of the “Blue Horses”. In Bavaria, Kandinsky (1866-1944) entered into a friendly relationship with Macke; the artists associated with the Blue Rider saw him as a younger brother and loved him for his genuine and cheeky personality.

Walk in the Woods, 1911, August Macke — Walk in the Woods, 1911. Watercolour and pastel, 48 x 63.5 cm. Private collection.

In 1913, Macke sojourned for some time with his family in Hilterfingen at Lake Thun, in Switzerland. It was probably one of his happiest times, not least for the progress in his artistic work. The following year, along with his friends Paul Klee (1879-1940) and the Swiss painter Louis Moilliet (1880-1962), he travelled to Africa. Macke, whose art culminated at such an early age, produced his strongest works from Tunisia, especially the sparkling little oil paintings from Tunis. These include, for example, the different versions of the Turkish cafés.

Here again, Macke was a typical Rhinelander, because of this empathy which had once placed the old Colognians into a dangerous dependency on the Dutch, such as Dirk Bouts (1415-1475), assimilating foreign influences on the design. These designs are not completely assimilated in all cases; there are paintings by Macke, especially those which are flirting with Cubism, that remain experimental and are not entirely convincing. Macke is always at his best when he combines colours with his peculiar sense for bouquet-like eurhythmics together; strong, lively, bright colours, as in the 1912 picture of the Four Girls in the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf (since 1918). What may perhaps have seemed a little hard in early images became, since his trip to Africa, radiant and warm. It is impossible to say what Macke could have given us, had he survived the war.