Village street with cart 1908

Curator: This is Wilhelm Gutmann's "Village street with cart," created in 1908. It’s currently part of the Städel Museum's collection, and rendered using pastel and drawing on paper. Editor: It gives me a distinct feeling of enclosure. The buildings seem to be pressing in from all sides. Almost claustrophobic. Curator: Expressionism often conveys intense emotion through distorted forms and exaggerated colours. Observe how the hues amplify the palpable sense of emotional intensity. The converging lines might symbolize psychological constriction within modern society. Editor: I'm struck by the quick, almost frantic strokes of the pastel. Gutmann seems less interested in accurate representation than in capturing a specific, fleeting mood. It all feels very immediate, raw. Did he use his fingers to blend in? I'd love to examine the texture of the paper. Curator: Gutmann, part of the burgeoning German Expressionist movement, embraced bold color choices to elicit emotive response and subjective experience of reality, which moved away from representational objectivity in academic art. See how the figures pushing a cart lack any sense of individualisation: archetypes trapped in an anxious world. Editor: The labor of the figures is clearly depicted but they seem detached, consumed in shadows that appear like emotional burdens that shape their interactions and existence. Curator: A poignant reflection of social angst and shifting existential states at the turn of the century through urban observation, but crafted by a tangible human presence. Editor: I’m left contemplating both the expressive and tangible qualities embodied by Gutmann’s process of pastel application, that evoke broader, deeper questions of individual emotional struggles during an era undergoing major shifts.