Walking a Tightrope is a celebration of Grinnell College's acquisition of over 72 German Expressionist prints and books. Ten undergraduate students, one professor, two generous donors, and numerous helpful staff members spent fall semester, 2001, putting together an exhibition, a catalogue, and a series of educational programs all related to the prints. As Daniel Strong and Alice Anderson '04 point out, Grinnell College is unique among her peer institutions by providing such an opportunity for undergraduate art students.
We are honored to present this web page as a permanent home for every facet of our exhibition seminar. The entire catalogue is reprinted online, including the prints and student essays. Installation views serve as a record of the April 1-21, 2002 exhibition in Grinnell's Faulconer Gallery. Also, there are educational resources for those who wish to learn more about the movement which began nearly a century ago.
Kevin Cannon '02
The Curators
Jenny Anger
Assistant Professor of ArtI've been engaged with German Expressionism for over a decade, but the Goldman collection and this class gave me my first opportunity for an intensive study of prints, which I've enjoyed immensely. My favorite Expressionist printmaker at the moment is Karl Schmidt-Rottluff; I've started seeing his trees from the Russian Landscape every day as I drive in to Grinnell. My favorite part of this class was the day we collectively decided on a theme for the show. I was worried about there being factions of aesthetic vs. more contextual, political, critical interests, but after we brainstormed we found plenty of common ground that formed the basis for what I think is an exciting and meaningful show. I am very proud, also, of how the class negotiated the meeting of their vision with the practical exigencies of staging an exhibition. Thank you, student curators!
Alice Anderson '04
EducationA random purchase of a George Grosz postcard at the Museum of Modern Art four years ago was my first experience with German Expressionism. In The Engineer Heartfield, made in 1920, I was drawn to the mixed media of watercolor and collage and the sneaky look of green-skinned Heartfield who clenches his fists and bites his lips looking while out of the corner of his eye. I didn't buy it for any deep or meaningful artistic reason, it just made me laugh. With this class I've encountered a more serious side of German Expressionism, and enjoyed and appreciated this era even more. My gallery or museum work experience has been limited to tagging along with my dad to his school, The Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and working at the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul, MN this past summer on the Amazing Castle exhibit. Needless to say, Walking a Tightrope has been quite a different experience-but in no way a bad one. I especially enjoyed working with small groups to present our ideas for the exhibition and sharing those with the class to reach a consensus. Geroge Grosz is still my favorite Expressionist; his biting social commentary is reminiscent of modern day political cartoons, yet he's even more subtle in his wit. I'm an Art History major from Golden Valley, MN, and I am very grateful to Prof. Jenny Anger and Director of Education Karla Niehus for their support in this journey and for the opportunity to work in education, the field I hope to enter some day.
Kevin Cannon '02
Catalogue, WebsiteI'm a studio art major from St. Louis Park, Minnesota. I signed up for this course primarily for the production aspect, but during the research portion of the class I really became engrossed with the history of German Expressionism. My favorite Expressionists were the four members of the early Brücke: Bleyl, Kirchner, Schmidt-Rottluff, and Heckel. I like the image of these four architecture school drop-outs, pulling prints in Kirchner's studio, and living on coffee, cakes, and cigarettes.
Matt Johnson '03
ExhibitionI am a junior art major from Des Moines, Iowa. Unfortunately, I am studying abroad this semester, and will probably miss the opening of our show. As part of the exhibition crew, I learned just how difficult it is to organize the presentation of a series of images when given so much creative freedom. It's not just a matter of hanging pictures on a wall! Our seminar had to tackle several organizational questions: Should the flow of traffic inside the gallery suggest a narrative? Should we group works by artist? Chronologically? By subject matter? Do we hang the work as we believe the Expressionists themselves would have done, or do we make our show a unique product of the Twenty-First Century? I am sure people will be pleased with our result, and will walk away with a deeper appreciation for the work and the medium.
Ashley Jones '02
ExhibitionI am a senior art history/classics double major from Leavenworth, Kansas. The German Expressionism seminar has given me a new perspective on not only the relevant historical and cultural paradigms of Germany in the early 20th century, but also on the very act of printmaking. I am concerned that often the art gets lost in art history, but this course was a valuable (and practical!) combination of everything that is great about the topic. My favorite German Expressionist is Fritz Bleyl, who was the most elusive of the early Brücke, dropping out only a few years after helping found the revolutionary group.
Sarah Labowitz '04
CatalogueI am a plain old history major from Alexandria, VA. Having no gallery or museum experience and no knowledge of Expressionism before this semester, almost everything in the Exhibition Seminar has been new to me. Working with Kevin and Jenni to bring together our class’ understanding of Expressionism into a catalogue was, for me, the most challenging and the most rewarding part of the semester. Top three German Expressionists: 1. Erich Heckel 2. Käthe Kollwitz 3. Kevin Cannon. But between you and me, he’s not really German.
Margaret G. MacDonald ‘02
ExhibitionWhile double majoring in art history and chemistry, I have become interested in pursuing conservation as a future career. With my interest of working in a museum setting, when I discovered that a course was to be offered at Grinnell in which a group of students would curate an exhibition, I jumped at the opportunity. What I had hoped for and what I more than gained from this course, was to learn about an aspect of museum work through a practical application. I was also fortunate to have the chance to study a movement in art history that has particularly fascinate me in the past few years, that of German Expressionism, a movement so strongly tied to the political situation surrounding it. The works show a dialogue that existed between art and society, each responding to the other. Perhaps for this reason I find the work of George Grosz especially remarkable. His work, sometimes grotesque, makes a powerful statement about the world in which he lived. This seminar has been a wonderful experience that has allowed me to examine and hold in my hands prints that took part in this conversation with society.
Alicia Reid '02
EventsI am an art history major from Sioux City, Iowa. I took this course because of my interest in German Expressionism and my desire for a hands-on ensemble project. I did not have any experience working in a gallery or putting together an exhibition before this course. However, since I have been in this course, I have committed to two internships, one in my hometown art center and the other at an international art fair. My favorite part of this semester has been working as a team with my peers, forming our ideas, asking questions of each other, and beginning to find some answers. My favorite artist of our collection is George Grosz because he can shock audiences into thinking critically with his distinct brand of humor and objectivity.
Carrie Robbins '02
PublicityAn art history major from St. Paul, MN, I am delighted and grateful to have been a part of this Exhibition. The seminar enabled me to combine my academic interest in Modern Art with my practical interest in actualizing an exhibition. As an employee of Grinnell's Print and Drawing Study Room, I first encountered the Goldman Collection as I moved them into that gallery's space for display, hung them for class viewing, and deframed them for photographing. Through hands-on familiarity, the prints became friends and my affinity for them has only grown continually richer through the research and academic attention our seminar brought to them. My particular favorites include Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Conrad Felixmuller, Kathe Kollwitz, and Erich Heckel. My favorite part of the seminar, aside from my personal interaction with the prints, was class discussion, whether collaboration or disagreement; we engaged difficult and nuanced academic material with consequence. Our loving labor was for you. Please engage, question, and be inspired by what the German Expressionists hoped would be transformative work.
Mordecai Scheckter '03
EventsI'm an art history major from Long Island, New York. For me, this class has been an excellent introduction into the art world. It provided an opportunity for me to get a feel for how much and what kind of work is necessary to put on an art show--not just exhibiting but the extra events and presentation of everything that' we've worked on all semester. We studied German Expressionism fairly intensively the first half of the semester, and when we finally got to see the prints the college owned, one of the highlights of this semester for me, it was exciting--we were really able to appreciate it. Like a lot of my classmates, I liked George Grosz's prints. Their likeness to cartoons makes them accessible and sort of fun, but their subject matter is striking and their commentary really caustic. Heckel's work impressed me, too. His portraits are bold but still detailed, so their always interesting to look at.
Jenni Wu '03
CatalogueMy name is Jenni Wu and I am an Art History / French double major from Cedar Rapids, IOWA. I took this course because I wanted to hang out with Prof. Anger. My favorite part of the semester was working with Sarah and Kevin on designing the catalogue. That said, my favorite German Expressionist is Kevin Cannon- that woodcut was a major find!