Published 2022-11-11
Expressionism 00
Expressionism
Expressionism, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century, emerged as a new movement in German fine arts a little earlier than in other areas of spiritual life. In the field of fine arts, the foundation of the Die Brücke group in 1905 is considered its beginning, and the emergence of new tendencies and art programs that are affirmed around 1923 is considered the end.
Contrary to terms such as Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism, etc., which denote certain currents, directions, schools, and aesthetics in the fine arts of certain periods, Expressionism is a general designation for a movement that touches all areas of spiritual life as a sign of rebellion against the previous "sensual" receiving of impressions from the outside, contrasting it with a "soulful," internal expression.
Expressionism did not burst out suddenly, but its birth was conditioned by the general unrest of the times and the artistic achievements of its predecessors. P. Cezanne, V. van Gogh, P. Gauguin, G. Seurat, and H. Matisee are included on the one hand, and E. Munch, J. Ensor, and F. Hodler on the other.
The German Expressionists were preoccupied with "psychic problems," the reverse of reality, and "spiritual expression," often brought to ecstasy. Expressionism has predominantly individualistic and even extremely subjectivist characteristics, but it is also rooted in the traditions of 19th-century romanticism. That double aspect of traditionalism and rebellion against tradition.
Expressionism cannot be seen as an exclusive and isolated artistic phenomenon, but as one of the symptoms of tension and agitation of spirits on the eve of and within the framework of the First World War.
The penetration of Expressionism in Germany was marked by the founding of the Die Brücke group in Dresden in 1905. This community was founded by Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernest Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The group is joined by Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, and Otto Muller. In the manifesto compiled by Kirchner, an invitation was sent to young artists to directly and unadulteratedly express what drives them to create.
The penetration of new ideas is connected with the appearance of the Norwegian visionary Edvard Munch, whose influence in Germany and Scandinavian countries is equal to that of Cezanne in France. Munch's first exhibition in Berlin in 1892 caused a scandal and, at the same time, shook the foundations of academicism and contributed to the creation of secessions (Munich, Vienna, Berlin, the New, and Free Secession in the period 1892–1906).
The expressionist movement, although under the signs of Munch, van Gogh, Holder, and Ensor, relied more on the French Fauvists than on the German Secessionists. The Die Brücke group understood the aspiration for expression more radically, sacrificing the form and method of composition for it. After the last joint exhibition in Munich in 1913, the group disbanded.
A few years before, in 1909, the Der blaue Reiter group was founded in Munich, which included Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Munter, Aleksei Javlensky, Franz Marc, and August Macke.
Along with these groups, important artistic figures such as Oscar Kokoschka, Paul Klee, Alfred Kubin, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Max Beckman, and others emerged around 1910 who belonged to expressionism in the early stages of their development but forged new paths in their own right.
After the First World War, having experienced its culmination, expressionism around 1923 gave way to new turmoil in the international framework. Parallel to painting, expressionism also appears in sculpture, primarily in the form of extreme stylization of masses and surfaces (E. Barlach), then deformation (A. Arhipenko, J. Lipchitz), finally ending in the so-called absolute (abstract) plastic.
Expressionism played a certain and very important role in conquering a new, non-naturalistic reality.
Lit.:
B. Myers, The German Expressionists, New York 1956
H.W. Janson, History Of Art, 1967
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ArtintheFridge, September 2022
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Links to other articles:
Modern Art
https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/modern-art-00
Impressionism
https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/impressionism-00
Post-Impressionism
https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/post-impressionism-00
Fauvism
https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/fauvism
Cubism