Curator talk: Making Modernism

Exhibition curator Professor Dorothy Price offers an enlightening, alternative view on German modernity in the early 20th century.
 
In this talk, Professor Dorothy Price introduces the exhibition Making Modernism. Focusing on selected artworks by Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter, Marianne Werefkin and their peers, Price explores what it meant for the women artists working in the first few decades of 20th century Germany to ‘make modernism’.
 
Price considers how modern women artists in Germany explored the tensions and contradictions of their changing world through themes such as portraiture and self-portraiture, motherhood and children, sexual desire and intimacy, the vibrant life of the city and the rural peace of the countryside. She reflects on how they found inner strength through their art despite the many financial, social and emotional challenges they faced. She also discusses how these artists enable a broader understanding of modernity and why their work is still so significant today.
 
Professor Dorothy Price is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Critical Race Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She has authored numerous books and articles on German Expressionism, Weimar Culture and Black British Art, and curated exhibitions. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and former Editor of the journal Art History.