Franz Marc was a German expressionist painter and printmaker. Although his life ended early, he was a key figure in the German expressionist trend and would be a source of inspiration for the evolving movement.
His painting career began when he travelled to Paris, where he studied the different Parisian painting trends, allowing him to try his hand at different styles including the naturalistic academic style.
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An example of Marc’s early work painted in the academic style.
During this time he was interested in the animal form, so he mastered painting them realistically. Inspired by French impressionist paintings and artists like Van Gogh and Picasso, his style began to take on a more impressionistic form.
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Marc symbolized colour in his abstract work. Yellow represented the female figure- gentle and merry, while blue represented the male form- spiritual and severe. Red was brutal and heavy and was used to contrast the other two colours.
Marc founded the Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) which was a group of German Expressionist artists. When he was drafted into the army, Marc utilized his painting skills to paint on tarps to hide artillery from fighter planes. He painted pointillist designs in the style of “Manet to Kandinsky”. Unfortunately, he did not survive the war. At the age of 36, he was struck down by a shell and was killed instantly.
I chose Franz Marc because I randomly put his name into Google from the list of artists and immediately recognized his art even though I have never heard of his name before. His abstract animal paintings are truly unique and unforgettable. His subjects are dynamic and always seem to be moving within the painting due to the bright and loud colours and blocky shapes. The animals in his works are either sharp and block-like or round and balloon-like.
Sources:
www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Marc
www.wikiart.org/en/franz-marc