EXPRESSIONISM
AVI 4M1
Some review:
Modernism
had 4 key
characteristics:
#1:
Shock of the New
Abstraction is
essential
#2:
#3:
Cult of the Genius
#4:
Honesty of Materials
There were 3 basic
approaches to
abstraction:
1
Intellectual Abstraction,
as seen in Cubism
There were 3 basic
approaches to
abstraction:
2
Emotional Abstraction,
as seen in
Expressionism
There were 3 basic
approaches to
abstraction:
3
Psychological Abstraction,
as seen in Surrealism
Today, we’re looking
at this one:
2
Emotional Abstraction,
as seen in
Expressionism
Post Impressionists Van Gogh and Gauguin…
influenced “Expressionism”
Expressionism took on many forms, but there
were 3 common characteristics:
1. Personal expression of
the artist is the most
important thing;
2. Vivid, exaggerated
colours;
3. Distortion of shapes
to communicate
emotional states.
Some early
Expressionists
include Edvard
Munch:
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893
… and pre-Cubist
Pablo Picasso:
Pablo Picasso, The Old Guitarist, 1903
4 Early Expressionist
movements:
#1 The Fauves, 1905
Means: “Wild Beasts”
- originally an insult.
Frenchwith my HEART
“I paint
Expressionists
and my LOINS, not
bothering about style!”
-Vlaminck
Vlaminck, Self Portrait
Influenced by Gauguin!
The Fauves: Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse, The Dance, 1909
The Fauves: Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse, The Green Line, 1905
Matisse was
interested in
using colour to
achieve a ‘new
truth’; pictorial
harmony;
beauty!
The Fauves: Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse, The Red Turban, 1907
Matisse was not
interested in
expression
through “the
violent gesture”.
The Fauves: Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse, Panel with Mask, 1947
Matisse’s late
work were largescale collages of
cut-out coloured
paper.
The Fauves: George Rouault
George Rouault, The Clown, 1907
Rouault’s work
was often overtly
religious,
exploring Man’s
inhumanity to
Man.
Early Expressionist
movement #2:
Der Brucke, 1905
Means: “The Bridge”
in German.
“Oooo – look at me!
I’m all PRIMiTIVE
and NAKED! How
uncivilized!”
Der Brucke: Ernst Kirchner
Kirchner, Self Portrait as a Soldier, 1915
Kirchner’s group
sought to escape
the chains of
civilization by
making “primitive”
art in order to be
more fully human.
Der Brucke: Ernst Kirchner
Kirchner, Eigendruck
They did rough
woodcuts,
influenced by old
German prints,
Oceanic art and
Gauguin.
Der Brucke: Ernst Kirchner
Kirchner, Self Portrait with Model, 1910
Their art tried to
express artistic
struggle and
social isolation…
… by using
shocking colour,
shocking distortion &
shocking subjects
Early Expressionist
movement #3:
Franz Marc, The Yellow Cow
Der Blaue Reiter, 1910
Means: “The Blue
Rider” in German.
“Woo Hoo! I am
so playful and
spiritual! I’m a
yellow cow!
Der Blaue Reiter : Kandinsky
Vassily Kandinsky, Composition 7
“Form itself is meaningless
unless it is the expression of an
artist’s inner necessity
and everything is permitted
to serve this end.” - Kandinsky
Der Blaue Reiter : Kandinsky
Vassily Kandinsky, Painting with Three Spots
Kandinsky
searched for a
common spiritual
basis of all the
arts…
… music, visual
art, poetry and
religion.
Der Blaue Reiter : Kandinsky
Vassily Kandinsky, Composition 8
Kandinsky’s later, graphic style
Der Blaue Reiter : Franz Marc
Franz Marc, The Fate of the Animals, 1913
Marc
foreshadowed
W.W.1;
and died in the war shortly thereafter.
Der Blaue Reiter : Paul Klee
Paul Klee, The Twittering Machine, 1922
Klee approached
art with the
playfulness of a
child,
experimenting
with mixed media
and automatic
drawing.
Der Blaue Reiter : Paul Klee
Paul Klee, Ad Parnassum, 1932
Early Expressionist movement #4:
New Objectivity, 1916
Shocked by the
suffering caused by
W.W.1; German
artists; vicious often
satirical art focusing
on the ills of society.
“Whoa! Are we ever
angsty and intense! Is
that your best poker
Otto Dix, Three Card Players
face?
New Objectivity : Otto Dix
Otto Dix, Dr. Mayer-Hermann, 1926
Dix did
exaggerated,
unflattering
portraits of
various types of
people from
German society.
New Objectivity : Otto Dix
Otto Dix, Portrait of Dancer Anita Berber, 1925
Dix did
exaggerated,
unflattering
portraits of
various types of
people from
German society.
New Objectivity : Otto Dix
Otto Dix, Skull: The War, 1924
Dix was a shellshocked veteran
of WW1 and
made brutal
depictions of the
horrors of war.
New Objectivity : Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann, The Night, 1919
Beckmann
illustrated
the chaos
and
violence of
post-war
Germany.
Grunewald, The Eisenheim
Altarpiece, 1512-1516
Many German Expressionists continued the
tortured German Renaissance tradition.
Many German Expressionists continued the
tortured German Renaissance tradition.
Otto Dix, War Triptych, 1929 - 1932
New Objectivity : George Grosz
George Grosz, Toads of Property, 1921
Grosz mocked
the powerful
and showed
distain for the
wealthy.
New Objectivity : George Grosz
George Grosz, Fit for Active Service, 1917
Grosz mocked
the powerful
and showed
distain for the
wealthy.
New Objectivity : Kate Kollwitz
Kollwitz, The Mothers and the War, 1919
Kollwitz was a
master
printmaker.
Her work shows
sympathy for the
underprivileged,
particularly
women and
children.
New Objectivity : Kate Kollwitz
Kollwitz, The Peasant War, 1921
German Expressionism was almost
extinguished with the rise of Fascism and the
election of the Nazi party in the 1930s.
Their work was
labeled
“degenerate” by
the Nazis and put
on display in
mocking traveling
shows.
Many Expressionist
artists left Germany
(Beckmann, Grosz),
were silenced
(Kollwitz) or were
killed.
The influence of
Expressionism was
wide-spread and is
still a very popular
style of art-making
today.
Francis Bacon, Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef
Expressionism:
Key Dates: 1905 – present
Key Artists: Henri Matisse
Ernst Kirchner
Vassily Kandinsky
Paul Klee
Otto Dix
Kate Kollwitz
Expressionism:
Influenced by:
- Van Gogh and Gauguin:
distortion of realism to express
personal, emotional and spiritual
states
Expressionism:
Characteristics:
1. Personal expression of the artist is the
most important thing;
2. Vivid, exaggerated colours;
3. Distortion of shapes to communicate
emotional states.
Fin.