Criticism, History 

In April 1892 the first art Secession in the German-speaking countries came into being in Munich, Central Europe's undisputed capital of the visual arts. Featuring the work of German painters, sculptors, and designers, as well as that of vanguard artists from around the world, the Munich Secession was a progressive force in the German art world for nearly a decade, its exhibitions regularly attended and praised by Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and other modernists at the outset of their careers. "Those artists who were not included, or who thought themselves inadequately represented in the large official exhibitions held in the major German cities, had economic as well as aesthetic reasons for creating new outlets for their work.... The first of these Secessions [is] the subject of an interesting and well-researched study by Maria Makela."--James Joll, The New York Review of Books "Makela combines aesthetic analysis with institutional history, and does so very well. She has written the first thoroughly documented account of the Munich Secession in any language." --Peter Paret, The Art Bulletin "...a carefully documented chronicle of the Munich Secession...an indispensable guide. It is a pioneering study that manages to be solid yet provocative..."--Brooks Adams, Art in America - from Amzon