08/10 EXPRESSIONISM IN ART

he who looks out is an apehe who looks within is a God (Bergson, 19thC philosopher)

the final vrf style

The Incredible Expanding Style

Historically, Expressionism has been:
invented german influential famous
a new name in art in 1912 from 1905 to the 1930s in design and film (see next slide) in America in the Fifties & today

It remains a part of our popular culture today whether with Goths, in therapy, in music (the blues) or in language. But how does it fit in with our other styles ? Can it be fitted in?

20th C Expressionism is Everywhere

This style is active in all periods and medias but it cant easily be fitted into our usual time chart of art styles these examples range from 1917 to 1960

Fortunately, it is easy to understand.

Its all about finding ways to communicate your inner feeling. Here are three explanation of this style from three famous artists: make the subjective objective Knopff the expression of human passion Matisse a mirror (reflecting) the state of the soulGauguin Hence the commonplace idea in pop music of expressing your feelings

....but its so different from earlier art

Idealism

Realism Expressionism

A Useful Definition Therefore

Expressionist art styles are those made by artists who attempt to convey their inner states by
looking inwards into their subjective world emphasizing emotions over all other factors breaking art rules such as proportion or beauty exaggerating shapes, colours and subjects selecting emotive and symbolic subjects making their style personal and unique notice how this almost encourages the making of ugly art

Expressionist Keywords
Five women on the Street: Kirchner 1913
Exaggeration Distortion Lo-Fi qualities - personal Handmade effect - sincere Agitated, aggressive lines Emotive subject matter Suggestive and symbolic Honest - childlike simplicity Dark, disturbing atmosphere A disdain for art rules
Can you identify these qualities and then interpret their effect in this example ?

Context: A New Style for a New World

19th century urbanisation meant new city living for most people - and with this came fear, paranoia, claustrophobia.. To cope with this, many individuals looked for ways to achieve individual and personal expression, a freedom from the great city machine it seemed Can you think of similar examples today ?

Other Factors at Work

Freud: his discovery of the subconscious mind revealed the power of our deep emotions - Symbolism was the first art style to explore this inner world (late 19thc) The rediscovery of Northern Art inspired many here was an art which had often tried to avoid Italian Renaissance idealism and beauty: art could be ugly and dark and still affect us

as well as
Non-Western art: once curios, here was a new, non-classical language of distortion and exaggeration to admire, collect and learn from in the early 20th century
Pioneers (1880s/90s): Van Gogh in the South and Munch in the North use the elements of Impressionism in a new and personal way (often dubbed Post-Impressionism) and so become seen as the godfathers of Expressionism

Two Pioneers
Van Gogh and Munch, in the last years of the 19th century, became the models for future Expressionists as they brought together many of these factors into a new style that revealed their inner states and feelings.
Can you use the key words to describe and analyse these two examples ?

Two Pioneers
Van Gogh and Munch, in the last years of the 19th century, became the models for future Expressionists as they brought together many of these factors into a new style that revealed their inner states and feelings.
Can you use the key words to describe and analyse these two examples ?

Two early groups in Germany

Most accounts of Expressionism look to Germany for the first true Expressionist art groups (to follow up the examples set by Van Gogh and Munch). Die Brucke (the Bridge) from 1906 and Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) from 1910 each combined different elements to give us two famous versions of Expressionism before the Great War in 1914

Die Brucke: the dark style of the city

The first group began in Dresden 1905: a student group lead by Ernst Kirchner They mixed Van Gogh, African art and Medieval woodblocks in their art They viewed themselves as outsiders to modern life in a newly industrialised Germany which they hated Their distorted style conveys their feelings about this cruel and harsh world which was in the descent into war

Der Blaue Reiter: Colour and Experiment

This second group began in Berlin in 1910: its avant garde writers and artists, lead by Kandinsky, were fascinated with colour and innocence They were inspired by Van Gogh, Delauney (cubo futurism), folk art and the art of children They wrote about the spiritual power of art Fearful of war, their art used nature to symbolize their fears and to express their (utopian) hopes for renewal

Kandinsky: the move to Abstraction

Kandinskys experimentation in Der Blaue Reiter lead him from exaggeration and into improvisation with just colours and shapes alone Inspired by the example of music he tried to express his feelings without depicting the shapes of the world This abstract version of Expressionism became deeply influential in 1950s America (Abstract Expressionism aka the
New York School))

Abstract Expressionism: the dominant mid-century style

America, in the late 1940s: refugee artists from Europe like Kandinsky begin to inspire New York artists towards improvisation (see also Miros automatism form Surrealism) A New York School emerges using colour, huge scale and personal gesture to express personal emotions that were recognizable as universal states Obsessed with Carl Jung, flat surfaces and individuality in their art, their various styles are promoted to worldwide acclaim

Gallery: Abstract Expressionism

A Popular Multimedia Style

Most people discover Expressionism outside of painting - in Music, Film and Graphics for instance Expressionism has now made itself, as lo-fi or handmade design, a part of Postmodern Graphics, Craft and Media work today This popularity was originally stimulated by the way film makers exploited this style from the 1920s in films such as the cabinet of Dr Caligari

Film Noir

German directors exploited expressionist distortion and dramatic light effects in their 1920s films, sets, costumes and make up The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, for instance, was nothing like the black & white films of the time and they changed movie making Fleeing Hitler to America, this film style was taken up by Hollywood, christened Film Noir and it introduced Expressionism to the world in the 1940s, making it multimedia and famous

Legacy:Graphics, Architecture & Stage

A Postmodern Influence
Recent architecture, 1970s punk and the later Goth style show how Expressionism has spread to all areas of our culture Designers continue to see the value and the power of distorted or lo fi effects Expressionist/lo fi design strives for individuality; it is personal, sincere and it goes against existing canons/big business/bland digital media - viewed today as traits of Postmodernism

Legacy: Lo-Fi Design Today

Conclusion
This is the last of the six modern styles that you are asked to follow up with introductions / images / captions in your VRF assignment and you should begin this process soon The remaining MMU sessions will look at Post-modernism and modern design, and there will also be sessions on research, plagiarism and assignment guidance