These exercises have been devised to incorporate German language tasks into exploring the German Expressionist Exhibition.

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1 German Language These exercises have been devised to incorporate German language tasks into exploring the German Expressionist Exhibition. Work your way through the activity sheets, completing Listening, Reading and Writing tasks, to find out more about the German Expressionists. Listening Listen to the German audio about the Red Woman. Answer the following questions: What was the name of the artists group set up by Marc and Kandinsky? What did they think was important to show in their art? When he painted animals, whose perspective did he try to show? Marc tries to show a connection between humans and what? What else have you learnt by listening to this audio? Rosa Schapire Collection Information In the 1950s, Rosa Schapire, a German Art historian and collector who had escaped from Nazi Germany donated 20 works by Schmidt-Rottluff to Leicester Museums. Schmidt-Rottluff was one of many artists that the Nazis thought to be degenerate. This meant that they thought the art was un-german Hitler had clear ideas about what art should look like and most of the Expressionists did not fit in with his vision. In 1937 the Nazis seized 608 of his paintings from Museums. Leicester Arts and Museums Learning German Expressionism: German Language p1/6

2 Reading Three of the works by Schmidt-Rottluff on show are described below in German. Read the clues and try and track down the image. Dieses Bild ist schwarz-weiß Es gibt drei Gesichter darauf Es wurde von einem Holzschnitt gedruckt Es wurde bevor 1920 angefertigt Es heißt Dieses Bild ist in Farbe Es zeigt Bäume Es wurde nach 1930 angefertigt Es ist ein Gemälde Es heißt Dieses Bild ist schwarz-weiß Es wurde bevor 1920 angefertigt Es zeigt Gebäude und ein Boot Es ist ein Holzschnittdruck Es heißt Die Brücke Crossing a new bridge Read the following introduction to the Brücke group of artists: Reading,,Die Brücke'' war eine expressionistische Künstlergruppe, die von Schmidt-Rottluff, Kirchner, Bleyl und Heckel gegründet wurde. Sie haben einen sehr anderen Stil als die deutschen Impressionisten, wie Liebermann, gewollt. Ihre Werke waren schwieriger zu gefallen als die von der Gruppe,,Blaue Reiter". Ihre Werke zeigen emotionale Kraft und nicht nur, was man mit den Augen sehen kann. Ihre Werke waren oft ganz einfach und mit starken Emotionen. Die Gruppe hat einfache Techniken, wie Holzschnitt, gemocht, die starke schwarz-weiß Bilder angefertigt haben. Sie haben auch farbenfrohe Bilder angefertigt. Vocabulary der Stil (-e) style die Gruppe (-n) group die Kraft ( -e) power einfach simple der Holzschnitt (-e) woodcut anfertigen to produce das Bild (-er) painting, picture das Werk (-e) work Leicester Arts and Museums Learning German Expressionism: German Language p2/6

3 Questions Are the following statements true or false? Heckel was a German Impressionist Die Brücke artists wanted to produce work similar to Liebermann s Their work tried to show how someone felt, rather than just what they could see They used woodcut printing to produced colourful images Find a piece of Impressionist art that you like and write down the title. Compare this to a piece of art from Die Brücke, what are the main differences? Translate Die Brücke artists tried to show emotions in their work Try to translate these emotions into English: Einsam Nervös Ruhig Emotionen Traurig Glücklich Leicester Arts and Museums Learning German Expressionism: German Language p3/6

4 Vocabulary Franz Marc often painted animals; he felt they were innocent beings living in harmony with nature. His work also used bright colours and had a sense of emotion. Find 2 of Marc s animal paintings in the Blue Rider section (Der Blaue Reiter). Complete the spidergrams below by adding as many German words as you can for different animals and colours: Farben Tiere Leicester Arts and Museums Learning German Expressionism: German Language p4/6

5 Speaking Work as a pair for this activity and go to the section of paintings by German Expressionists that are called New Objectivity. There are many drawings and paintings showing different kinds of people. Take it in turns to pick one of the images and try to describe it to your partner only using German. You could use full sentences or just use words that relate to the picture. Once you have given 5 descriptions, your partner must try to guess which of the images you are describing. Then it is their turn to pick a picture and try to describe it to you. Hilfe Below are some terms that might help. You should also try to use some of the emotion and colour words you translated and thought of earlier. der Mann ( -er) man die Frau (-en) woman der Soldat (-en) soldier das Gebäude (-) building das Hut ( -e) hat der Mund ( -er) mouth die Haare hair die Maske (-n) mask Er/Sie sieht... aus. Er/Sie hält... Auf diesem Bild gibt es Leute He/She looks... He/She is holding... There are people in this picture Speaking You may wish to make note of some key phrases and words below Leicester Arts and Museums Learning German Expressionism: German Language p5/6

6 Writing When you reach the New Acquistions gallery, collect a postcard from your teacher. Tell your friend something about the art you have seen today by writing them a postcard in German. Some terms that might be useful in completing this are given on the next page, but do try to make your postcard personal and reflect your own experience and personality. Example Hey, wie gehts dir? Ich bin am New Walk Museum in Leicester und ich sehe die expressionistische Kunst an. Es ist wirklich toll und ich denke, daß es dir auch gefallen würde. Manche Kunst ist sehr farbenfroh, aber andere ist finster und beunruhigend und es geht um die schreckliche Behandlung der Juden in Nazi-Deutschland. Bis bald! Liebe Grüße Useful Terms Mein Lieblingskünstler war... Das Wetter in Leicester ist... Das Museum ist... Ich fand die Kunst... Ein interessantes Objekt war Es hat mich an (+acc.) erinnert. Ich werde nicht vergessen. Some descriptions: bunt colourful deprimierend depressing beunruhigend disturbing schön beautiful interessant interesting My favourite artist was... The weather in Leicester is... The museum is... I thought the art was... An interesting object was... It reminded me of... I won t forget... Leicester Arts and Museums Learning German Expressionism: German Language p6/6