SCHMIDT-ROTTLUFF, KARL

born Dec. 1, 1884, Rottluff, near Chemnitz, Ger. died Aug. 9, 1976, West Berlin also called Karl Schmidt German painter and printmaker, noted for his Expressionistic landscapes and nudes. In 1905 Schmidt-Rottluff began to study architecture in Dresden, where he met Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Erich Heckel, fellow architecture students who shared his passion for art. Together they formed the organization of Expressionist artists known as Die Brcke. Kirchner was the intellectual and spiritual leader of Die Brcke, while Schmidt-Rottluff was drawn to the emotive storm of colour of a new member of the group, Emil Nolde. Such woodcuts, however, as Woman with Hat (1905) indicated that he had already begun to realize the expressive potential of flat, patterned design. His painting Windy Day (1907) shows the artist's transition from his early Impressionistic style to the mature style characterized by boldly dissonant colours of Self-Portrait with Monocle (1910). In 1911 Schmidt-Rottluff moved to Berlin, where he painted works in which the harsh colours and jagged forms achieve a vigorous brutality. Other works of this period have angular, geometric forms and distorted space, revealing his new interest in Cubism. His later woodcuts, such as his Head of Christ and his Two Heads (both 1918), betray the lingering influence of Cubism as well as his new enthusiasm for African sculpture. During the 1920s Schmidt-Rottluff's work became more pleasing, losing much of its former vigour and integrity. Nevertheless, when the Nazis gained power in Germany, he was forbidden to paint. After World War II he taught art and resumed painting, although he never regained the power of his early works.