GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM-ART

    The expressionism movement appeared during the mid 1900s in Dresden and Munich paralleling the beginning of expressionism in France. One of its main influences was Van Gogh’s pioneering expressionist paintings. Unlike impressionists, who were all about imitating nature, the expressionist painters ‘typically distorted color, scale and space to convey their subjective feelings about what they saw’(Wilette).  Later on the war( World War 1), sacred most of the artists for good. So starting from 1915, German expressionism started becoming a protests movement, as well as it started becoming a style of ‘modern art’.

   Although expressionist painting is said to have originated with the British painterJMW Turner in 1755, it actually originated in Paris. In Autumn a group held an exhibition which was talked about across all Europe. Thus was the name Fauvism born.

   Simultaneously; a few German architecture students ,who are at the same time artists,  formed a group called Die Brucke, meaning the bridge. They looked at the same models for inspiration as Feuves namely: Van Gough, Paul Gaugin and Georges Seurant. “Die Brucke early embodied the aesthetics of, German Expressionism, a movement which would reshape abstract as well as representational art”(Wilette).

    As it’s recently stated, Die Brucke consisted four architecture students: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff , Fritz Bleyl and Erich Heckel. They aimed to attract all the revolutionary and innovative in order to win the freedom to create, for the next gerenation.

Their subjects were taken from their everyday surroundings and their works were representing their daily life. Their paintings were directly painted with life and experience itself. Their artistic point of view directly came from the exhibitions which traveled around Europe and consisted many works of Van Gogh. “What was at first intuitively transformed into art, was refined into a powerfully expressive art composed of a simplified tracery of lines, composition over large surfaces and pure color”(Wilette). Landscape, the nude, the nude in a landscape were important themes for Die Brucke.

Standing Child- Eric Heckel:

Naturalness and exaggeration offered possibilities of overcoming traditional boundaries. The artists wanted to depict universality and objectivity, that’s why color was made independent.

In this drawing, the pose of the girl indicates that she is not ashamed of her nakedness. Her skinny immature body, provides a visual analog for the artist’s angularity and simplification form.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880):

This is a piece where freedom is stated with the use of color. And again nudity is visible. There is not much contrast in Kirchner’s work yet the use of bold and bright colors, is the main idea of this painting. Her comfortable position again represents lack of shame because of nudity. Plus the existence of the mirror strengthens this meaning by representing that she is comfortable by observing her naked body.

 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner-At The Café Terrace:

This is most likely drawn close to the year 1915. That’s because, it represents the darkness and obscurity, which are all about the Great War. The color use (black and white) illustrates the contrast of the society or maybe even the challenges of the artist’s inwardness. Additionally, it’s possible to observe the sharp edges of the women’s clothing, which contributes to the idea of contrast.

Max Pechstein- Killing of the Banquet Roast:

The human figure with the sharp edges of its body, plus the tree figure with its unfamiliar illustration demonstrates innovation and modernism. This is another painting with striking, bold colors. The green, yellow and flesh-color are used to illustrate naturalism and freedom. While the contrast of colors attract attention, the use of black in the background but especially in the tree’s roots depict depression.

 The article written by Jeanne Wilette is a secondary source, which consist all this information about art and German expressionism. This is obviously written to inform the reader about the German Expressionism, how it formed and further information of the things that came with it. Personally I found this article quite beneficial, for the reason that it provides the necessary information about German Expressionism and arts.

                                                                        Work Cited

       Derain., By French Fauvist Andre. "History of Expressionist Painting (1880-1930)." History of Expressionist Painting. Encyclopedia of Arts and History, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2016. <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/expressionist-painting-origins.htm>.

      Christina.tsevis. "The Bridge to Utopia: Die Brücke's Wild Expressionism." Visual News. Visual News, 03 Mar. 2016. Web. 09 Oct. 2016. <https://www.visualnews.com/2012/06/04/bridge-utopia-expressionist-group-die-brcke-early-20th-century/>.

      "German Expressionism." MoMA. Moma, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2016. <https://www.moma.org/explore/collection/ge/themes/index>.