Macke, August

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German expressionist painter. He was a founding member of the Blaue Reiter group in Munich. With Franz Marc he developed a semi-abstract style, and became noted for his simple, brightly coloured paintings of park and street scenes. He was killed in World War I.

He first met Marc and Kandinsky 1909, and in 1912 he and Marc went to Paris, where they encountered the abstract style of Robert Delaunay (Orphism). In 1914 Macke visited Tunis with Paul Klee, and was inspired to paint a series of brightly coloured watercolours largely composed of geometrical shapes but still representational.

The cog-wheel and rice plant stand for industry and agriculture. The stars represent the 14 states. Blue symbolizes peace. Red denotes courage. Effective date: 4 January 1974. >>