Woodcut;
From: Genius. Journal for emerging and old art, Vol. 1, No. 1;
Sheet size: 13.9 x 9.92 / Image size: 6.85 x 9.41 in inch
Verso printed: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff / Head. Original woodcut 1915.
Hans Mardersteig and Carl Georg Heise, friends at the University of Kiel, conceived *Genius* as a journal intended to include both art-historical analyses of established works and critical responses to contemporary art. They presented their idea to the publisher Kurt Wolff. Despite his reservations about Expressionism, Wolff began publishing *Genius* in 1919, on the condition that the journal would also include a literary section.
By presenting examples of canonical works alongside essays on contemporary artists, *Genius* proved to be a thoughtful advocate of good taste and built a decisive bridge between the art of the past and the art of the future. Heise formulated it as follows: “The revolutionary spirit must not be satisfied with blind devotion to everything new. Its high responsibility lies in bringing these emerging ideas to fulfilment, while at the same time protecting the new—through self-reflection and critical retrospection—from arrogance and empty progress.”
(Source: moma.org)
Light damage, small brown spot at the lower left edge of the sheet.
