EMO EXPLORING EXPRESSIONISM Unleashing the power of Emotion Introduction of Expresionism THe Origins The Inner World capturing of Enovative Creation MASters ICONIC EXPRESSIONIST ARTWORKS C H A N N E L L I N G T H E S O U L ’ S SYMPHONY 1234567234567890 NO 01 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Artwork by pinterest
Contents 04 Introduction to Expressionism: Unleashing the Power of Emotion 06 The Origins of Expressionism: A Brief Historical Overview 08 Key Characteristics of Expressionism: Capturing the Inner World 09 Expressionism: 10 Iconic Paintings & Their Artists 13 Exploring Expressionist Movements: From Der Blaue Reiter 16 GALLERY SHOWCASE : 5 Iconic Expressionism Artworks You Probably Don’t Know
Expressionism, artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person. The artist accomplishes this aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements. In a broader sense Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements. Expressionism can also be seen as a permanent tendency in Germanic and Nordic art from at least the European Middle Ages, particularly in times of social change or spiritual crisis, and in this sense it forms the converse of the rationalist and classicizing tendencies of Italy and later of France.Edvard Munch’s The Scream, explained Edvard Munch’s The Scream, explainedSee all videos for this article More specifically, Expressionism as a distinct style or movement refers to a number of German artists, as well as Austrian, French, and Russian ones, whobecame active in the years before World War I and remained so throughout much of the interwar period. Strongly influenced by Expressionist stagecraft, the earliest Expressionist films set out to convey through decor the subjective mental state of the protagonist. The most famous of these films is Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), in which a madman relates his understanding of how he came to be in the asylum. The misshapen streets and buildings of the set are projections of his own universe, and the other characters have been abstracted through makeup and dress into visual symbols. The film’s morbid evocation of horror, menace, and anxiety and the dramatic, shadowy lighting and bizarre sets became a stylistic model for Expressionist films by several major German directors. Paul Wegener’s second version of The Golem (1920), F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922), and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), among other films, present pessimistic visions of social collapse or explore the ominous duality of human nature and its capacity for monstrous personal evil. While some classify the composer Arnold Schoenberg as an Expressionist because of his contribution to the Blaue Reiter almanac, musical Expressionism seems to have found its most natural outlet in opera. Among early examples of such Expressionist works are Paul Hindemith’s operatic settings of Kokoschka’s proto-Expressionist drama, Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (1919), and August Stramm’s Sancta Susanna (1922). Most outstanding of the Expressionist operas, however, are two by Alban Berg: Wozzeck, performed in 1925, and Lulu, which was not performed in its entirety until 1979 Expressionism in literature arose as a reaction against materialism, complacent bourgeois prosperity, rapid mechanization and urbanization, and the domination of the family within pre-World War I European society. It was the dominant literary movement in Germany during and immediately after World War I.In forging a drama of social protest, Expressionist writers aimed to convey their ideas through a new style. Their concern was with general truths rather than with particular situations; hence, they explored in their plays the Introduction to Expressionism: Unleashing the Power of Emotion emotion March 11 2023 4
predicaments of representative symbolic types rather than of fully developed individualized characters. Emphasis was laid not on the outer world, which is merely sketched in and barely defined in place or time, but on the internal, on an individual’s mental state; hence, the imitation of life is replaced in Expressionist drama by the ecstatic evocation of states of mind. The leading character in an Expressionist play often pours out his or her woes in long monologues couched in a concentrated, elliptical, almost telegrammatic language that explores youth’s spiritual malaise, its revolt against the older generation, and the various political or revolutionary remedies that present themselves. The leading character’s inner development is explored through a series of loosely linked tableaux, or “stations,” during which he revolts against traditional values and seeks a higher spiritual vision of life.August Strindberg and Frank Wedekind were notable forerunners of Expressionist drama, but the first full-fledged Expressionist play was Reinhard Johannes Sorge’s Der Bettler (“The Beggar”), which was written in 1912 but not performed until 1917. The other principal playwrights of the movement were Georg Kaiser, Ernst Toller, Paul Kornfeld, Fritz von Unruh, Walter Hasenclever, and Reinhard Goering, all of Germany. Expressionist poetry, which arose at the same time as its dramatic counterpart, was similarly nonreferential and sought an ecstatic, hymnlike lyricism that would have considerable associative power. This condensed, stripped-down poetry, utilizing strings of nouns and a few adjectives and infinitive verbs, eliminated narrative and description to get at the essence of feeling. The principal Expressionist poets were Georg Heym, Ernst Stadler, August Stramm, Gottfried Benn, Georg Trakl, and Else Lasker-Schüler of Germany and the Czech poet Franz Werfel. The dominant theme of Expressionist verse was horror over urban life and apocalyptic visions of the collapse of civilization. Some poets were pessimistic and contented themselves with satirizing bourgeois values, while others were more concerned with political and social reform and expressed the hope for a coming revolution. Outside Germany, playwrights who used Expressionist dramatic techniques included the American authors Eugene O’Neill and Elmer Rice. The decline of Expressionism was hastened by the vagueness of its longing for a better world, by its use of highly poetic language, and in general the intensely personal and inaccessible nature of its mode of presentation. The partial reestablishment of stability in Germany after 1924 and the growth of more overtly political styles of social realism hastened the movement’s decline in the late 1920s. Expressionism was definitively killed by the advent of the Nazis to power in 1933. They branded the work of almost all Expressionists as degenerate and forbade them to exhibit or publish and eventually even to work. Many Expressionists went into exile in the United States and other countries. emotion March 11 2023 5
The Origins of Expressionism: A Brief Historical Overview As a movement, the term expressionism usually denotes the late-19th century, early-20th century schools of emotive or interpretive art, which emerged in Germany as a reaction to the more passive style of Impressionism. The word expressionism was first used in 1850, mostly to describe the paintings where an artist’s strong emotions were clearly depicted. The popularity of Expressionism increased when Antonin Matejcek in 1910 coined the term. With this word the Czech art historian intended to denote the opposite of Impressionism and indicate one of the main currents of art that expresses highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression typical of a wide range of modern artists. Whereas the Impressionists sought to express the majesty of nature and the human form through paint, the Expressionists, according to Matejcek, sought to express their feelings about what they saw. Expressionism first emerged in 1905, when a group of four German students guided by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner founded the Die Brücke (the Bridge) group in the city of Dresden. A few years later, in 1911, a like-minded group of young artists formed Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in Munich. Kandinsky and Franz Marc where its founders, whilst Paul Klee and August Macke were amongst its members. These two groups became the foundation of the German Expressionism movement. Since then, Expressionism became a widely recognized form of modern art. Expressionism had its most direct impact in Germany and continued to shape the country’s art for decades after the First World War. While certain artists rejected Expressionism, others continued to expand its innovative art and style. Other forms of the movement developed in France, Paris, and Austria. The Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement was influenced by the highly emotional tenets of Expressionism, while the Neo-Expressionists emerged in Germany and then in the United States reprising the earlier Expressionist style. emotion March 11 2023 6
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Key Characteristics of Expressionism: Capturing the Inner World Extreme angles, flattened forms, garish colors, and distorted views distinguish Expressionism, an international movement in art, architecture, literature, and performance that flourished between 1905 and 1920, especially in Germany and Austria. Starting in 1905, as industry grew in Europe, the Expressionists migrated to cities. There they formed groups such as Die Brücke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), shared studios, exhibited together, and published their work and writing. The Expressionists sought to depict the world as it felt rather than how it looked, and, by doing so, to reinvigorate art with authenticity and expressive force. They rejected the dominant stylistic conventions and subject matter of German visual culture at the turn of the 20th century, instead looking to the boldly colorful, introspective paintings of the Post-Impressionists and to fellow German and Austrian artists who explored the darker side of life and the artistic imagination in their work. Many Expressionists also found early inspiration in the flat patterning and bold forms of The New Art movement. In their quest for authenticity, the Expressionists also looked for inspiration beyond European art and culture to native folk traditions and tribal art. They frequented ethnographic museums and world’s fairs, where they encountered collections of African and Oceanic art. Reflecting a common attitude of the time, the Expressionists perceived non-Western art as “primitive,” unevolved, and therefore closer to the origins of humanity. They borrowed stylistically from what they saw—including geometric ornamentation, decorative patterning, and flattened planes. As Germany neared the onset of World War I, more elements of the grotesque appeared in Expressionist work. Expressionists embraced printmaking as a way to quickly distribute work to a larger audience and as a means of promoting or criticizing social or political causes. emotion March 11 2023 8
Expressionism: 10 Iconic Paintings & Their Artists The Dessert: Harmony in Red by Henri Matisse (also known as Red Room or Harmony in Red), 1908, Hermitage Museum Expressionism as an art movement can be very broad and difficult to characterize. It spans across different countries, mediums, movements and periods. Expressionist art was therefore not defined by a set of aesthetic principles, but rather as a tool of expression and societal commentary. Below are 10 iconic paintings that represent the evocative and dynamic nature of the expressionist period. The Scream is one of the most iconic modern art pieces in the world. It is renowned for em- bodying the profound sense of angst and anxiety that permeated the early modernist era. The painting is largely autobiographical as it is based on Munch’s ex- perience hearing a piercing ‘scream of nature’ after being left behind by two of his friends, who appear in the background of the piece. There are two ver- sions of the painting; one is located at the Munch Mu- seum in Oslo and one at the Oslo National Gallery. The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1893, Oslo National Gallery emotion March 11 2023 9
The Blue Rider (1903) by Wassily Kandinsky The Blue Rider is an excellent example of Kandinsky’s shift between impressionist and expressionist painting styles. While it has clear impressionist influences in technique and style, its heavy impasto, bold coloration and slightly rough brush strokes are elements of early expressionism. The piece’s abstracted nature also invited interpretation from the viewer; some have claimed to see a baby in the rider’s arms. Dance Around the Golden Calf (1910) by Emil Nolde Dance Around the Golden Calf depicts a passage from the book of Exodus. According to the tale in the Old Testament, the Israelites made the Golden Calf to placate people when Moses traveled up to Mount Sinai as they feared he may not return. The painting portrays the unsophisticated people performing a votive dance around the idol, unaware of its falsity. The rugged brushstrokes and bright colors emphasize the heightened emotionality of the piece. The Large Blue Horses (1911) by Franz Marc The Large Blue Horses was featured in the first exhibition by Der Blaue Reiter in 1911. The piece features manly bright, contrasting primary colors. The blue color and soft curvature of the central horses form “a sense of harmony, peace and balance” against the stark red of the hills in the background. Marc stated that this contrast displayed the juxtaposition between tranquil spirituality and violence, evoking a sense of transcendence. emotion March 11 2023 10
Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant (1912) by Egon Schiele Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant features a depth of emotion despite the simplicity of the piece. The artist sits at an angle, looking at the viewer with a look of skepticism. His head and facial features are enlarged, and the body twisted unnaturally, insinuating a subtle tension that permeates the piece. The plant in the background also cranes to the side, mimicking the body curvature of the artist. The face is rendered with intense color depth and muscular detail, unlike the surrounding clothing and background, suggesting an acutely psychological aspect to the piece. Street, Berlin (1913) by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Street, Berlin depicts Kirchner’s scornful view of life in Berlin. This is evidenced by the piece’s intense, sharp brush strokes and disconcerting color contrasts. The faces of the subjects are nearly indistinguishable from one another, highlighting the vacuous superficiality of Berlin’s high life. The figures stand on tilted ground, nearly overflowing out of the painting itself, creating a feeling of claustrophobia and disorientation. The Night (1918-19) by Max Beckmann The Night was a product of the Neue Sachlichkeit, or New Objectivity movement, which was established as an anti-expressionist rebellion. The piece features sharp angles and chaotic, overlapping figures as an expression of Beckmann’s disenchantment with life in postwar Germany. The piece portrays gruesome elements of sex, death and violence, drawing attention to the overstimulation and obscenity of modern society. emotion March 11 2023 11
Reclining Nude (1919) by Amedeo Modigliani Reclining Nude is part of a series of nude portraits by Modigliani that began in 1916. The portraits were influenced by depictions of Venus in ancient Greco-Roman and Italian Renaissance art, and the women are often idealized as such. The use of soft skin coloration stands out against dark, interior backgrounds, connoting a sense of intimacy between subject and artist. The subject in Reclining Nude lays back with casual ease as if relaxed in the presence of the painter. Portrait of a Man (1919) by Erich Heckel Portrait of a Man is a painted woodcut composition. Like his other woodcut portraits, the piece features sharp, defined features. The figure embodies the trauma and insecurity that plagued postwar Germany during the time. He sits with his eyes to the side and his hands clasped at his chin, emitting a dual sense of defeat and anticipation. The cool, roughly painted color scheme also lends to this sense of anxiety. Castle and Sun (1928) by Paul Klee Castle and Sun depicts either a medieval castle or a modern cityscape, with smaller triangles overshadowed by a skyline of towers. Like many of Klee’s paintings, Castle and Sun is rendered in a geometric color block style, with bright, contrasting details against a deep red background. The sun in the background also appears as if it could be a moon. The use of unclear imagery poses a juxtaposing duality that is omnipresent in the piece, inviting the viewer to draw their own conclusion as to what the painting depicts. emotion March 11 2023 12
Exploring Expressionist Movements: From Der Blaue Reiter 1910 Self-Portrait Artist: Marianne von Werefkin A founding member of the Neue Künstvereinigung Munchen (NKvM), Marianne von Werefkin later joined Der Blaue Reiter. Her Self-Portrait of 1910 exemplifies the experimentation of the former group and the semi-abstract manipulation of form and color that would develop in the latter. Her loose, dynamic brushwork shows the early influence of Vincent van Gogh on the NKvM artists and her use of arbitrary color is reminiscent of their study of Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch. Indeed, the haunting tone she culled from her choice of clashing, vibrant hues, the flattened space of her composition, and the figure’s confrontational red-eyed gaze carry all the emotional and symbolic weight of Munch’s The Scream, while demonstrating several elements that prefigured the expressionistic painting of Der Blaue Reiter. Oil on canvas - Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich 1911 Cover of Der Blaue Reiter Almanach Artist: Wassily Kandinsky The name Der Blaue Reiter is widely considered to derive from a 1903 Symbolist canvas by Kandinsky. However, when Kandinsky painted that early canvas, perhaps indebted more to Gustav Klimt or Les Nabis, he had not yet developed the theory of color symbolism he would publish in Concerning the Spiritual in Art. His woodcut cover for Der Blaue Reiter’s almanac (published in 1912) is thus more in keeping with the movement’s aesthetic and ideals. First, the choice of the bold, flat, “primitive” woodcut format reveals Der Blaue Reiter’s focus on direct representation and interest in Primitivism. The choice of the semi-abstract “blue rider,” with the color blue symbolizing intense spirituality and the rider symbolizing transcendent mobility, makes Kandinsky’s print into a visual manifesto of his key concepts. Beyond his visual offerings, Kandinsky was central to the group as a theorist, and behind this cover he continued that role by publishing two essays and an experimental theater piece. Color woodcut book cover - Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin emotion March 11 2023 13
1911 The Yellow Cow Artist: Franz Marc Before and during his years in Der Blaue Reiter, Marc developed a color theory that ran parallel and occasionally overlapped with Kandinsky’s. In a 1910 letter to August Macke, he wrote: “Blue is the male principle, astringent and spiritual. Yellow is the female principle, gentle, gay, and spiritual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy and always the color to be opposed and overcome by the other two.” In Yellow Cow, then, Marc portrayed his emblem of femininity, resounding in its joyous spirituality, barely able to be suppressed or even balanced out by the opposing colors that surround it. Marc was predominantly a painter of animals, and pantheistic “backto-nature” groups, popular in turn-of-the-century Germany, influenced his idea of spiritualism. Taking a stance closely related to Primitivism, Marc considered animals to be closer to an innate, natural state of spirituality that mankind lost with civilization. Oil on canvas - The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York 1913 Composition VII Artist: Wassily Kandinsky Composition VII, which is regarded as Kandinsky’s greatest work before World War I, was, at the very least, the painting that he worked on the most intensely with Der Blaue Reiter. At 6 by 10 feet, his largest work is a vibrant mix of colours and shapes with almost any recognisable images. Despite the elevated level of abstraction he attained, Composition VII has been compared to Kandinsky’s earlier compositions and his preparatory sketches to reveal apocalyptic themes taken from the Book of Revelations of the Bible, including a walled city on a mountain, the volleys of cannon and fanfares of trumpets, a purifying flood, and the Last Judgement. Kandinsky advocated for abstraction because he thought that because of the end of the world, humanity needed to have a spiritual rebirth. Many artists and intellectuals considered World War I (1914–18) to be a literal apocalypse, and Kandinsky later responded by eliminating all recognisable iconography from his paintings, particularly depictions of deadly fighting.. Oil on canvas - State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow emotion March 11 2023 14
1913 The Fate of the Animals Artist: Franz Marc Der Blaue Reiter belonged to an international avant-garde from which it borrowed a variety of contemporary styles, although having established its own lineage of Symbolist and Post-Impressionist painters. Marc’s use of futuristic force lines and cubist faceting led to possibly the most dynamic hard-edged style. The Fate of the Animals, which was painted with a ferocity absent from his other significant works, has been interpreted as a foreshadowing of the impending conflict, with a conflagration burning the animals’ forest home. According to Marc’s colour theory, the central blue deer’s upright posture suggests the prospect of transcendence. The diagonal background’s cross alludes to sacrifice and rebirth. Marc was one of many intellectuals who saw the imminent conflict as an opportunity for spiritual rejuvenation. Marc’s opinions on this would be severely altered by his time in the military, and he ultimately lost his life in action. Paul Klee, a friend of Marc’s, repaired the artwork after a 1916 warehouse fire damaged the right third, which is brown in colour. Oil on canvas - Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland 1914 Farewell Artist: August Macke Painted after the outbreak of WWI and the subsequent dissolution of Der Blaue Reiter, Macke’s Farewell reflects the darker mood that overtook many European modern artists. His mixed, subdued palette contrasts with the brightly primary colored canvases common to his prewar Blaue Reiter colleagues, and his looming background figures are visually more akin to the alienated men and women in Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s expressionistic street scenes or to Munch’s The Scream. These visual cues have been taken to represent his feelings of wartime fear and anxiety. His simplified, featureless figures follow from Der Blaue Reiter’s approach to abstraction, though gone is the feeling of spiritual redemption. Sadly, Farewell was the last painting that Macke completed before his death at the front in September 1914. Oil on cardboard - Museum Ludwig, Cologne emotion March 11 2023 15
5 Iconic Expressionism Artworks You Probably Don’t Know You may already be familiar with expressionism artworks and not know it. Some of the world’s most famous paintings were created by expressionist masters. 1. Paula Modersohn-Becker, “Girl with Flower Vases” German artist Paula Modersohn-Becker was one of the most representative painters of early expressionism. Even though her career was cut short at only 31 years of age, Modersohn-Becker produced an impressive body of work that includes some of the first nude self-portraits made by a woman to be in the public eye. . Despite being commonly associated with the modernist movement, Modersohn-Becker was an important precursor of expressionism. This painting, from the year of her death, shows signs of her interest in the Fauvists’ use of color and line and foreshadows what would later become the expressionist movement. GALLERY SHOWCASE : emotion March 11 2023 16
Perhaps better known for the gaitly figures and elongated faces of the characters in his later paintings, Modigliani is not frequently associated with the expressionist movement. However, in earlier works such as this evocative portrait of a woman, one can see a stylistic approach that mirrors that of the expressionist painters of his time. 2. Amedeo Modigliani, “Portrait of Maude Abrantes” emotion March 11 2023 17
3. Gabriele Münter, “Jawlensky and Werefkin” Gabriele Münter was one of the founding members of the Der Blaue Reiter group alongside Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. Sometimes wrongly demoted to “Kandinsky’s partner” in art history retellings, Münter played a major role in the birth of the expressionism movement, sharing her contemporaries’ interest in creating a new form of artistic language that drew from post-impressionism and Fauvism and moved toward abstraction and emotional expression. In this painting, she uses flat areas of color, strong outlines, and unusually faceless figures to give new life to an otherwise traditional scene of two people lying on a meadow. emotion March 11 2023 18
4. Oscar Kokoschka, “The Bride of the Wind” Also known as “The Tempest,” this painting is one of Austrian artist Oscar Kokoschka’s better-known paintings. In it, he appears embracing Alma Mahler, the love of his life and widow of the famous composer Gustav Mahler. With swirling brush strokes surrounding the lovers inside what looks like a stormy ocean, the painter captures the tumultuous energy of a great, ill-fated love story. emotion March 11 2023 19
6. Käthe Kollwitz, “The Survivors” Käthe Kollwitz was a German painter, printmaker, and sculptor who shared many of the stylistic and conceptual interests of the expressionists of her time. Made in 1922, “The Survivors” is a testament to the horrors of World War I and the social unrest of the beginning of the century in Europe. The stark, monochromatic figures depict the pain and disenfranchisement felt by people across the continent, and the motherly figure in the center of the image becomes a symbol of resilience and protection. Motherhood was a recurring theme for Kollwitz, as were the effects of poverty, hunger, and war on the working class. emotion March 11 2023 20
emo /Mekar the Creator To see the world , things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls,draw closer, to find each other , and to feel. that is the purpose of life./01