Lewin, Georg 1878–1941

[A pseudonym]

(Herwarth Walden)

PERSONAL: Born 1878, in Berlin, Germany; died during imprisonment, 1941, in Saratov, Volga; married Else Lasker-Schüler (a poet), 1903 (marriage ended, 1912); married Nell Walden.

CAREER: Writer, composer, and editor. Cofounder and editor, Der Sturm, 1910–32.

WRITINGS:

Heeresmarsch, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1900.

Das Buch der Menschenliebe, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1900.

(Editor) Richard Strauss: Symphonien und Tondichtungen, Schlesinger'sche Buchund Musikhandlung (Berlin, Germany), 1908.

Der Sturm, Berlin-Halensee (Berlin, Germany), 1910.

Zehn Dafnislieder op. 11: Des beruhmten Schaffers Dafnis salbst verfartigte Fress-Sauff and Venus Lieber, Morgen (Berlin, Germany), 1912.

Erster deutscher Herbstsalon, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1913.

Dann, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1915.

Franz Marc Gedächtnis-Ausstellung: Gemälde und Aquarelle/Holschnitte, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1916.

Das Buch der Menschenliebe, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1916.

Kunstkritiker und Kunstmaler, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1916.

Gessammelt Schriften: Erster Band: Kunstkritiker und Kunstmaler, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1916.

Die Judentochter: Dichtung aus des Knaben Wunderhorn für Gesang und Klavier, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1916.

Einblick in Kunst: Expressionismus, Futrismus, Kubismus, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1917.

Weib: Komitragödie, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1917.

Expressionismus, die Kunstwende, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918, reprinted, Kraus Reprint (Nendeln, Liechtenstein), 1978.

Sturm-Bühne, Kraus Reprint (Nendeln, Liechtenstein), 1918.

Die Härte der Weltenliebe, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918.

Sände, ein Spiel an der Liebe, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918.

Trieb: Eine burgerliche Komitragödie, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918.

Glaube: Komitragödie, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918.

Die Beiden: Ein Spiel mit dem Tode, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918.

Letzte Liebe: Komitragödie, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918.

Menschen: Tragödie, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1918.

Sturm-Buhne: Jahrbuch des Theaters der Expressionisten, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1919.

Dei neue Malerei, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1919.

Das Buch der Menschenliebe, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1921.

Der Sturm September 1921 hundertste Ausstellung: zehn Jahre Sturm Gesamtschau, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1921.

Einblick in Kunst: Expressionismus, Futurismus, Kubismus, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1924.

Im Geschweig der Liebe: Gedichte, Der Sturm (Berlin, Germany), 1925.

(With Peter Adalbert Silbermann) Expressionistische dichtungen vom Weltkrieg bis zur Gegenwart, C. Heymann (Berlin, Germany), 1932.

August Stramm, editor, Breife an Nell und Herwarth Walden (correspondence), Edition Sirene (Berlin, Germany), 1988.

(With Karl Kraus) Feinde in Scharen. Ein Wahres Vergnügen da zu sein. Briefwechsel 1909–1912, Wallstein (Göttingen, Germany), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Georg Lewin was the founder and original editor of the German Expressionist magazine Der Sturm. At the prompting of his first wife, poet Else Lasker-Schüler, Lewin adopted the pseudonym Her-warth Walden, by which he is best known; she also gave him the title for the magazine. Established in 1910 with a gallery by the same name opening in 1912, Der Sturm showcased the works of prominent expressionist artists.

Lewin's aim through the publication of Der Sturm was "to promote avant-garde art" in Germany. Often contradictory and enigmatic, Lewin nevertheless was responsible for introducing the work of futurists, expressionists, and the Blaue Reiter group. M.S. Jones, a reviewer in New German Studies, described Lewin's "fundamental approach" to the problems present in post-World War I Germany as an "attempt to draw a direct parallel between the nature of human society and of human life as a whole on the one hand, and the nature of art on the other." George C. Avery, a reviewer in Houston German Studies, commented that Der Sturm was "widely regarded as the most significant journal of German Expressionism." Avery applauded Lewin's "sensibility and responsiveness to unrecognized artists" and his "organizational talents" for making Der Sturm "the longest-lived of all Expressionistic journals."

As Manfred Durzak observed in Symbolist Movement in the Literature of European Language, although Lewin at times contradicted himself in writing and speech, he nevertheless held strong convictions about art and the artist. As Durzak stated, "Lewin stress[ed] quite bitterly his aloofness from what have been termed the great themes of Expressionism: the invocation to the new man, vital action, the appeal for change through reform of the individual, the emotional criticism of contemporary society, the overweening pathos of revival." Durzak noted that the "rapidly changing literary scene" in Germany between 1880 and 1920 included "the confusion of styles: Naturalism, Impressionism, neo-Romanticism, Art Nouveau, Decadence, Futurism, Expressionism, Surrealism, and New Objectivity."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Avery, George C., editor, Feinde in Scharen: ein wahres Vergnügen dazusein: Karl Krause, Herwarth Walden Breifwchsel 1909–1912 (correspondence), Wallstein (Göttingen, Germany), 2002.

Balakia, Anna, editor, The Symbolist Movement in the Literature of European Language, Akademiai Kiado (Budapest, Hungary), 1982, pp. 191-212.

Brühl, Georg, Herwarth Walden und "Der Sturm," Dumont (Cologne, Germany), 1983.

Oxford Companion to German Literature, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1997, p. 884.

Oxford Dictionary of Art, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1988, p. 481.

Pickar, Gertrud Bauer, and Karl Eugene Webb, Houston German Studies: Expressionism Reconsidered, Wilhelm Fink (Munich, Germany), 1979, pp. 19-24.

PERIODICALS

Art History, September, 1995, Kate Winskell, "The Art of Propaganda: Herwarth Walden and Der Sturm, 1914–1919," pp. 315-344.

ARTnews, Volume 80, issue 8, "Herwarth Walden and Der Sturm,", p. 222.

Etudes Germaniques, July, 1991, Maurice Gode, "Herwarth Walden's Werdegang von der 'autonomen Kunst' zum Kommunismus," pp. 335-347.

Nerthus, Volume 3, 1972, Per Sanden, "Herwarth Walden: Der Sturm und Skandinavien," pp. 209-228.

New German Studies, autumn, 1974, M.S. Jones, "Herwarth Walden: A 'Political' Expressionist," pp. 192-200.

New York Jewish Week, November 19, 1999, John Mendelsohn, "Berlin, When It Sizzled: Jewish Museum Exhibit Explores contributions of Jews to the Creation of Modernism and the 'New Culture,'" p. 41.

Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie, Volume 111, issue 2, 1992, "Nachtragliches zu Herwarth Waldens," pp. 256-283.