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Expressionism

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Art

   The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893) which inspired 20th century
   Expressionists
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   The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893) which inspired 20th century
   Expressionists
   Portrait of Eduard Kosmack by Egon Schiele
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   Portrait of Eduard Kosmack by Egon Schiele
   Rehe im Walde by Franz Marc
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   Rehe im Walde by Franz Marc
   "Elbe Bridge I" by Rolf Nesch
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   "Elbe Bridge I" by Rolf Nesch
   "View of Toledo" by El Greco, 1595/1610 has been pointed out to bear a
   particularly striking resemblance to 20th century expressionism.
   Historically speaking it is however part of the Mannerism movement.
   Enlarge
   "View of Toledo" by El Greco, 1595/ 1610 has been pointed out to bear a
   particularly striking resemblance to 20th century expressionism.
   Historically speaking it is however part of the Mannerism movement.

   Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an
   emotional effect; it is a subjective art form. Expressionism is
   exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, film,
   architecture and music. Additionally, the term often implies emotional
   angst – the number of cheerful expressionist works is relatively small.

   In this general sense, painters such as Matthias Grünewald and El Greco
   can be called expressionist, though in practice, the term is applied
   mainly to 20th century works.

Origin of the term

   Although it is used as term to reference, there has never been a
   distinct movement that called itself expressionism, apart from the use
   of the term by Herwald Walden in his Polymic Magazine " Der Sturm" in
   1912. The term is usually linked to paintings and graphic work in
   Germany at the turn of the century which challenged the academic
   traditions, particularly through Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter.
   Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche played a key role in originating modern
   expressionism by clarifying and serving as a conduit for previously
   neglected currents in ancient art.

   In The Birth of Tragedy Nietzsche presented his theory of the ancient
   dualism between two types of aesthetic experience, namely the
   Apollonian and the Dionysian; a dualism between a world of the mind, of
   order, of regularity and polishedness and a world of intoxication,
   chaos, ecstasy. The Apollonian represented the rationally conceived
   ideal, whereas the Dionysian represented artistic conception proper,
   originating from man's subconscious. The analogy with the world of the
   Greek gods typifies the relationship between these extremes: two
   godsons, incompatible and yet inseparable. According to Nietzsche, both
   elements are present in any work of art. The basic characteristics of
   expressionism are Dionysian: bold colors, distorted forms, painted in a
   careless manner, two-dimensional, without perspective, and based on
   feelings (the child) rather than rational thought (the adult).

   More generally it refers to art that is expressive of intense emotion.
   It is arguable that all artists are expressive but there is a long line
   of art production in which heavy emphasis is placed on communication
   through emotion. Such art often occurs during time of social upheaval,
   and through the tradition of graphic art there is a powerful and moving
   record of chaos in Europe from the 15th century on: the Protestant
   Reformation, Peasants' War, Spanish Occupation of Netherlands, the
   rape, pillage and disaster associated with countless periods of chaos
   and oppression are presented in the documents of the printmaker. Often
   the work is unimpressive aesthetically, but almost without exception
   has the capacity to move the viewer to strong emotions with the drama
   and often horror of the scenes depicted.

   The term was also coined by Czech art historian Antonín Matějček in
   1910 as the opposite of impressionism: "An Expressionist wishes, above
   all, to express himself....[An Expressionist rejects] immediate
   perception and builds on more complex psychic structures....Impressions
   and mental images that pass through mental peoples soul as through a
   filter which rids them of all substantial accretions to produce their
   clear essence [...and] are assimilated and condense into more general
   forms, into types, which he transcribes through simple short-hand
   formulae and symbols." (Gordon, 1987)

Visual artists

   Some of the movement's leading visual artists in the early 20th century
   were:
     * Germany: Heinrich Campendonk, Emil Nolde, Rolf Nesch, Franz Marc,
       Ernst Barlach, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Erich Heckel, Otto Dix, Karl
       Schmidt-Rottluff, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, Conrad
       Felixmüller, Carl Hofer, August Macke, Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler,
       Ludwig Meidner, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter, Max
       Pechstein and Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz .
     * Austria: Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka
     * Russia: Wassily Kandinsky and Alexei Jawlensky
     * Netherlands: Charles Eyck, Willem Hofhuizen, Jaap Min, Jan
       Sluyters, Vincent Van Gogh, Jan Wiegers and Hendrik Werkman
     * Belgium: Constant Permeke, Gust De Smet, Frits Van den Berghe,
       James Ensor, Floris Jespers and Albert Droesbeke.
     * France: Georges Rouault, Gen Paul and Chaim Soutine
     * Norway: Edvard Munch, Kai Fjell
     * Switzerland: Carl Eugen Keel
     * Portugal: Mário Eloy

Expressionist groups in painting

   There was never a group of artists that called themselves
   Expressionists. The movement is primarily German and Austrian, though
   American artists of the late 20th and early 21st Century have developed
   distinct movements that are generally considered part of Expressionism.

   There were a number of Expressionist groups in painting, including the
   Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke. Later in the 20th century, the movement
   influenced a large number of other artists, including the so-called
   abstract expressionists, the latter consisting primarily of American
   artists such as Jackson Pollock. At the tale end of the 20th century, a
   group of artists in the American South developed a style known as
   Southern expressionism.

   The group Der Blaue Reiter was based in Munich and Die Brücke was based
   originally in Dresden (although some later moved to Berlin). Die Brücke
   was active for a longer period than Der blaue Reiter which was only
   truly together for a year (1912). The expressionists had many
   influences, among them Munch, Vincent van Gogh, and African art. They
   also came to know the work being done by the Fauves in Paris.

   Influenced by the Fauves, Expressionism worked with arbitrary colors as
   well as jarring compositions. In reaction and opposition to French
   Impressionism which focused on rendering the sheer visual appearance of
   objects, Expressionist artists sought to capture emotions and
   subjective interpretations: It was not important to reproduce an
   aesthetically pleasing impression of the artistic subject matter; the
   Expressonists focused on capturing vivid emotional reactions through
   powerful colors and dynamic compositions instead.

   The "head" of Der Blaue Reiter, Kandinsky, would take this a step
   further. He believed that with simple colors and shapes the spectator
   could perceive the moods and feelings in the paintings, therefore he
   made the important jump to Abstraction, changing 20th century art.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism"
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