(b Krefeld, 3 Nov 1889; d Amsterdam, 9 May 1957). German painter, printmaker and stained-glass artist. He attended the Fachschule für Textilindustrie and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Krefeld (1905–9), where his teacher Johan Thorn Prikker showed him the power of line and colour and introduced him to the work of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne. In 1911 he was invited by Franz Marc and Vasily Kandinsky to Sindelsdorf in Upper Bavaria. They knew of his work through August Macke whose cousin, Helmut, shared a studio with Campendonk. While Campendonk’s harmonious and often transparent application of luxurious Fauvist colours reflects the influence of Robert and Sonia Delaunay and of Macke, Marc’s geometric compositional approach is clearly visible in the experimental style of such paintings as Leaping Horse (1911; Saarbrücken, Saarland Mus.), shown in the first exhibition of Der Blaue Reiter in 1911–12 in Munich and illustrated in the almanac Der Blaue Reiter. Unlike Marc, however, he included figures in his mystical portrayals of animals in nature. This subject-matter was also explored in his first tentative graphic works, published in 1912 in Herwarth Walden’s periodical Der Sturm. He continued to experiment with styles such as Cubism (e.g. Composition with Horse, 1912; Bonn, Städt. Kunstmus.), Futurism (e.g. Yellow Animal, 1914; The Hague, Gemeentemus.) and Orphism (e.g. the Sixth Day, 1914; Duisburg, Lehmbruck-Mus.), and exhibited with the Expressionist group the ‘Rheinische Expressionisten’ before World War I.

• Campendonk, Heinrich
  • Sturm, Der
  • exhibitions
    • Walden, Herwarth
  • groups and movements
    • Blaue Reiter, §1: Foundation and exhibitions, 1911–c 1912
    • Dada, §1: Early History: Zurich, 1914–18
    • Expressionism, §1(i)(b): Origins and developments in Germany: Artists’ groups
    • Germany, §III, 5(i): Painting and graphic arts, c 1900–c 1939
  • works
    • Woodcut, §II, 6(i): 20th century: Revival, pre-World War II