The Art & Style of Expressionism
In the early 20th century a modern approach had started in the history of art which was observed in poetry, painting, literature, dance, architecture, music and film as well. Emerging in Europe, mostly Germany, this art style came to be known as Expressionism. As the name itself suggests, this avant-garde movement mainly focused on the importance of one’s subjective emotions rather than stereotypical naturalistic depictions in traditional art. Symbols, abstract forms of shapes, vivid brushstrokes were spontaneously used by artists to bring out their inner emotions. Paintings had become a mode of self-expression where feelings were given the utmost priority. Apart from German artists there were painters from Austria, France and Russia who were actively working with a similar approach.
Emergence of Expressionist styles
It has been observed that the concepts of working styles in Expressionism had already emerged in Post-Impressionism and Fauvism where artists have already started speaking of subjective emotions through their application of paints and types of colors they use. Hence it is difficult to separately define Expressionism as a style but it is seen to overlap with other movements that came up later, such as Cubism and Futurism. The foundation of this movement was already laid by artists including Vincent Van Gogh, Edward Munch, Henri Matisse who had been experimenting with their individual approaches and developing their personal styles in art. Expressionism style emerged when Europe was going through a drastic change before the advent of World War I. The name “Expressionism” originated as an opposite to the term Impressionism and it was coined by an art historian Antonin Matejcek as he observed the expressive quality of subjective thoughts being executed in the paintings.
Colors of Expressionism
The color palette of this art movement mostly consisted of muddy tones with muted reds and greens. Artists used bright colors only for the purpose of creating contrast in their works. The strokes of paint and brushing involved techniques similar to fauvism as both were overlapping each other almost during the same time. The colors were seen swirling around the pictorial surface creating intense shades of personal thoughts. Colors were also chosen according to the feelings of the artist as each color symbolizes the emotional state of the painter. The process of applying layers of thick paints popularly known as Impasto is also seen in many works which was used by painters to create effects of texture. Impasto technique has been popular since Impressionism and Post-Impressionism periods of art and continued in later modern art movements as well.
The Bridge & the Blue Rider Group
Four artists of the German Expressionist Group formed a group led by artist Ernt Ludwig Kirchner. Formed in 1905, this group came to be known as Die Brucke or The Bridge. This group included Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Fritz Bleyl. Art historians have often compared this group to the French Fauvist group of painters. The artists of this group were students of architecture and they studied nature closely while discussing art and architecture. They practiced perspective drawing, freehand drawing and nurtured historical study of art. The name “Brucke” or Bridge implies creating a connection like a bridge that they would form with the future forms of art. Later in 1911, under the guidance of Wassily Kandinsky, a group of young artists formed another group called the “Blaue Reiter” also called the Blue Rider Group. The name was derived from the 1903 painting called “Der Blaue Reiter” done by Kandinsky. However some sources say that the actual origin of this name is unclear as Kandinsky had also mentioned later that he and Franz Marc shared a common obsession with the color blue. Both the artists were also enthusiastic about horses and Kandinsky also loved riders. Along with the formation of this group there were exhibitions and publications happening in Munich which were taken care of by the artists themselves. They edited the almanac and designed the front covers.
Expressionist approaches of Edvard Munch
Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, is a prime example of this art movement and he is notable for his 1893 work- “The Scream”. This composition of Munch was first exhibited as “Der Schrei der Natur” or The Scream of Nature. He had created several versions of this painting in different mediums such as pastels, oil paints and lithographic prints. This painting is a striking example of Expressionism and has helped in formulating ideologies of the movement. The bright red-orange swirl of colors in the sky has been described as “tongues of fire” by the artist himself as he writes in his diary about an evening walk. He pens down his experience and says that he was out on the road with his two friends and felt exhausted. Then he looked up at the sky and the sky seemed to appear “blood red” as if nature was screaming. Even though his friends moved on he could not resist his feelings and started feeling anxious about the scream of nature. We see the two friends at a distance on the left edge of the composition and the road has been shown in linear perspective. This is how the masterpiece was created out of the emotional condition and feelings of the painter. Due to his childhood illness and the anticipation of inheriting a mental condition that runs in the family, Munch suffered from anxiety. He always feared that he would become insane. This is why we see scenes of death, social alienation and anxious representations in his distorted style of Expressionism. Along with time his works got popular but the rising fame could not eliminate his personality disorder or insecure feelings of emptiness and chronic fear of abandonment. Before enrolling in the Royal School of Art and Design, Kristiania, he was studying engineering in a college where he learnt technical drawings and concepts of perspective. Even though he excelled in physics and chemistry, his ill health was the reason for interruption in studies. He could not continue his technical study and much to his father’s disappointment he began to pursue fine art. He got trained in traditional study of art including naturalistic portrait and figure drawings. He created many self portraits and first exhibited his works in 1883. Gradually he started experimenting with painterly techniques, application of colors and created his individual style which later became the central feature of modern art. He considered Impressionist paintings to have less expressions and emotional executions and abandoned the naturalistic approach of painting in his works later on.
Some examples of works done by Edvard Munch:
Style of Kandinsky
Born in Russia, Wassily Kandinsky studied law and economics but gave up his promising career and studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He was greatly fascinated with forms and colors of abstraction and believed that abstraction in art had a huge potential to get close to the spiritual beauty of art. Kandinsky was inspired by the works of Claude Monet, especially the “Haystack” and appreciated the powerful sense of color used in the paintings. Apart from being a renowned painter he is also known as an art theorist. The colors he chose depended on his personal experience and were not to describe the literal presence of subjects. The 1903 painting “Blue Rider” is most remarkable which is also responsible for naming of the Blue Rider Group. This work shows a small figure riding his horse across a green meadow. The composition is known for its spontaneous application of colors and minimum details. The foreground is painted with darker shades of blue while the background has the contrasting colors of the fall trees. In the middle ground the paint flows over the cloak of the rider as he rushes through the rocky meadow casting his shadow represented with darker shades of blue. He considered blue as a spiritual color and many of his paintings are named after it such as “Yellow-red-blue”, “Blue Mountain” and the color is seen to dominate many of his works including “Houses in Munich”, “Couple on Horseback”, “The Cow” and “Munich-Schwabing with the Church of St. Ursula”.
Some examples of works done by Kandinsky:
Expressionist strokes by Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German Expressionist painter and the founder member of the group called Die Brucke or The Bridge. He studied architecture and hence had all the knowledge of technical drawing, principles of composition and perspective. His parents supported his interest in art and he studied nature closely after becoming friends with Fritz Bleyl (another member of The Bridge). While forming the group, they tried to abstain from the traditional approach of painting but they also created their new styles and that will act as a bridge between the past and the present. They were aware of the avant-garde movements but also revived old mediums of art such as the woodcut prints. Kirchner often criticized society by painting prostitutes, nude figures and highlighted bohemian culture in his works to depict his concept of the independent women. Such an example is the “Berlin Street Scene” where we see two prostitutes painted with bright hues and wearing fancy outfits with exaggerated collars and large laced hats. Other important works include “Modern Bohemia”, “Five Women on the Street”, “The Red Tower in Halle”.
Some examples of works done by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner:
Degenerate Art
When the Nazis came into power in 1933, Expressionism slowly started to decline. Wassily Kandinsky was prevented from teaching in the Bauhaus School of Art and Architecture after the advent of Nazis. They closed the school and considered modern art as “degenerate”. Under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, they considered the works as an insult to the feelings of German and many renowned works of artists were removed from galleries and museums. Artists were forced to create or sell their works, they lost their freedom and many of them left the country and went to the USA and other countries. They encouraged art and sculpture that was traditionally made without any representation of modern thoughts. Even films and plays were censored, music was made devoid of any jazz influences and any music having modern touch was termed as “degenerate music”.
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