A Pioneer of Expressionist Emotion: The Life and Art of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, born Karl Schmidt in 1884 in the small German town of Rottenflut (later Rottluff), stands as a monumental figure in the tumultuous world of early 20th-century art. His adoption of “Schmidt-Rottluff” in 1906 was more than a simple name change; it was an assertion of identity, a grounding in the very landscape that would so profoundly influence his artistic vision. He wasn’t merely painting what he saw, but translating the raw emotional resonance of the world around him onto canvas and into woo…