"Study for Painting of White Form," Wassily Kandinsky, 1913

German Expressionism From the Detroit Institute for the Arts

Through Feb. 10 at The Frist

The Frist's exhibition of German Expressionism opened last weekend, and I took some snapshots and made some quick notes about what I was thinking during the media preview. I'll write more about the exhibit in upcoming Country Life posts, but for now I thought I'd share my initial ideas. Here's the pick I wrote:

In 1924, a year lodged firmly amid the tumult of the Weimar Republic and the U.S. Immigration Act, the Detroit Institute for the Arts promoted German art historian W.R. Valentiner to director of the museum. Almost all the works in The Frist’s exhibition of German Expressionism were acquired by the DIA during Valentiner’s tenure, including Kandinsky’s “Study for Painting with White Form” — a painting that may not sound familiar but has undoubtedly made its way into your visual subconscious — and Ernst Kirchner’s “Winter Landscape in Moonlight” — a primary-colored piece that could just as easily stand in for a King Crimson album cover as it could hang beside Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” on a museum wall. Come learn more about history through an art historical lens at the exhibition’s opening tonight — you might be surprised by how current and abrasive these important works are.

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