NEUE KNSTLERVEREINIGUNG

English New Artists' Association group founded in 1909 by Wassily Kandinsky, Alexey von Jawlensky, Gabriele Mnter, and numerous others who were united by opposition to the official art of Munich rather than by similarity of style. Joined by Adolf Erbslh, Alexander Kanoldt, Alfred Kubin, Marianne von Werefkin, Karl Hofer, and several other artists as well as lay people, the group held its first exhibition in December 1909, at Moderne Galerie Tannhuser, Munich. The works exhibited, which primarily reflected Jugendstil and Fauvist styles, were not favourably received by the critics or the public. Their second exhibition, held September 1910 at Tannhuser, was international in scope, including, in addition to their works, those of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Georges Rouault, Kees van Dongen, Andr Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Henri Le Fauconnier, and David and Vladimir Burlyuk. The exhibition was denounced for, among other things, including foreign artists, especially Russians, who were considered dangerous to Bavarian culture. While preparing for their third exhibition, held December 1911 at Tannhuser, differences in aesthetic outlook caused a split in the group, partially brought on by the jury's rejection of Kandinsky's large, rather abstract painting, Last Judgment. Franz Marc (the last painter to join the group) and Kandinsky, favouring freedom of expression, were aligned against the more conservative art historian Otto Fischer (who later became the group's spokesman), Kanoldt, and Erbslh. Kandinsky and Marc left the association (as did Mnter and Kubin) and together formed Der Blaue Reiter, exhibiting their works that same month at Tannhuser, in rooms adjoining those of the Neue Knstlervereinigung.