(Ger. The Bridge). The Ist group of German
Expressionist painters, founded in Dresden in 1905 and
formally dissolved in 1913. Associated with it were
Kirchner, the leading member, Nolde, Schmidt-Rottluff, Pechstem, Heckel and Mueller. The artists shared a
common studio, cultivated the medieval guild ideal and
also canvassed 'bourgeois' support with a lay membership
scheme. The B. painters were inspired by Cezanne, Gaugum,
Van Gogh and Munch, and by African and Pacific art.
Their work was at first characterized by flat, linear,
rhythmical expression and by simplification of form and
colour, and their extensive use of the woodcut
especially in posters, made it an important 2Oth-c.
medium.
