Foxes by Franz Marc, oil on canvas, 1913Franz Marc was a pioneer in the birth of abstract art at the beginning of the twentieth-century. He was born on February 8, 1880, in Munich, Germany and studied at the Munich Art Academy. He traveled to Paris several times where he saw the work of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and the Impressionists.
Marc was a founder in 1911 of the Blaue Reiter group, an influential circle of artists who produced exuberantly colored works based on emotional themes. Much of Marc’s work featured animals—dramatic groups of horses in particular.
The original oil painting of Foxes hangs in the Kuntsmuseum in Dusseldorf, but Giclee prints are available for purchase.
Marc was a key figure in the German Expressionist movement. Fascinated by futurism and cubism, Marc’s art grew increasingly stark and abstract in nature.
Upon the outbreak of World War I, Marc volunteered for military service. Soon after, the Kaiser’s government identified notable artists to be withdrawn from combat to protect them. Marc was on the list, but before orders for reassignment could reach him, he was struck in the head by shrapnel and killed during the Battle of Verdun at age thirty-six. He had, however, already created some of the most exciting paintings of the Expressionist movement.
Later, after Hitler’s rise, modern art was suppressed. The Nazis condemned Marc as a degenerate artist and ordered that approximately 130 of his works be taken from exhibit in German museums.
In 1998, several of his paintings brought record prices at Christie’s, London. In 1999 Der Vasserfall (The Waterfall) was sold by Sotheby’s for $5.06 million, setting a record for all twentieth century German paintings.
Giclee prints of Foxes are available for purchase from AllPosters.com in sizes from 9 x 12 inches to 42 x 56 inches at prices from $35.00 to $180.00.
Posted November 12, 2011