B

DICTIONARY

B

Baroque
From barrocco: irregular pearl. A term used in theatre, architecture and pictorial art, which emerged in seventeenth century Italy. In the following century the term was used in a derogatory fashion but from the nineteenth century it was simply a neutral description of the art from the Renaissance until 1700.

The art is emotional and has wide appeal, with an emphasis on expressiveness. For example the portraits from the period are typically psychologising as opposed to the portraits of the Renaissance. The idiom of sculptures and paintings is dramatic and sensuous, full of contrasts and complex colours.

Elisabeth Toubro


Blaue Reiter (Der)
Artist collective founded in 1911 in Munich by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc which was dissolved during World War I. The name was derived from a 1903 painting by Kandinsky in which the blue colour is a symbol of mystery.

Not characterised by a homogenous style, the group was first and foremost a community whose purpose was the organisation of exhibitions. Their goal was to expand art's means of expression by supporting new, alternative forms of art. Artists like Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso and André Derain have all exhibited with the group.

Jean Arp