Georg Tappert (1880-1957), The Mother, 1918 (1964)

GeorgTappert (1880 Berlin - 1957 Berlin), The Mother, 1918 (1964). Estate print from1964. Linocut on Japan, 31.5 cm x 20 cm (image), 44.5 cm x 28 cm (sheet size),marked lower left in lead as copy 6/20, with the estate stamp on the reverseand signed by the artist's wife, Anneliese Tappert.              
- minimalwaterstain in the upper and lower left margin, otherwise in excellent condition 



- ViolatedMotherhood -


The motherstands on the heads of her dead children with her arms raised in supplicationand her eyes fixed on the heavens. They are the countless senseless victims ofa war that has desecrated the sanctity of motherhood. In the background, thecity dissolves into an expressionistic cascade of horrific events falling fromthe sky. The arms and halo of the mother appear several times, transforming themournful lament into movement.By drawingon the sacred art of the past, Georg Tappert has created a poignantexpressionist 'war memorial'.



About theartist


Afterstudying at the Karlsruhe Art Academy from 1900 to 1903 and an interlude at theBurg Saaleck Art School, Georg Tappert returned to Berlin in 1905, where hisworks were exhibited by Paul Cassirer. From 1906 to 1908, Tappert lived in theWorpswede artists' colony and ran an art school there. His most importantstudent was Wilhelm Morgner, who died during World War I and whose estateTappert later worked on. In Worpswede he met Paula Modersohn-Becker, whose artinspired him. When Tappert returned to Berlin in 1910, his works were rejectedby the Berlin Secession, and he and Max Pechstein founded the New Secession,which lasted until 1914 and included Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky, bringingtogether artists from the Brücke and the Blaue Reiter. In 1911, together withKäthe Kollwitz, he founded the "Juryfreie" exhibition in Berlin, andin 1918 he co-founded the "Novembergruppe" and the "Arbeitsratfür Kunst". In 1921 he was appointed professor at the Königliche Kunstschule.The Nazis removed him from his post in 1937 and in the same year removed manyof his works from museums as 'degenerate'. Tappert withdrew into inneremigration, painting mainly landscapes. After the war, he devoted himself torebuilding the Kunstgewerbeschule, which he merged with the Kunstgewerbeschuleunder Karl Hofer.