We explain what expressionism is, its historical context and works of art. In addition, we explain its general characteristics, authors and more.
Expressionism advocated a more intuitive and subjective stance on art.
What is Expressionism?
Expressionism was an artistic and cultural movement that emerged in 20th century Germany and which manifested itself in a wide variety of disciplines: the visual arts, literature, cinema, music, theatre, dance and photography, among others.
Opposed to realistic impressionism and naturalism with their deterministic and rationalist pretensions, expressionism He defended a more intuitive and subjective stance on art.in which the artist’s interiority played a leading role. For this reason, expressionism is understood more as an attitude towards art and life than a homogeneous artistic trend.
In fact, numerous creators of diverse styles, interests and tendencies congregated in expressionism, which made it a heterogeneous movement and without too many recognizable features of its own.
See also: Fauvism.
Definition of Expressionism
Expressionism is often understood as the deformation of reality to reflect the subjective content of the human beingThat is to say, instead of copying reality faithfully, as realism proposed, or copying a glimpse of it (an “impression”) as impressionism did, the expressionists preferred to mold reality until it reflected what was within them: obtaining an “expression” of their subjectivity.
Historical context of expressionism
After WWII, expressionism re-emerged in an abstract form in the USA.
Expressionism It emerged during the early years of the 20th centurybefore the First World War and in the midst of the so-called “historical avant-gardes”.
In this age the rejection of positivist philosophy was brewinga doctrine of rationalist thought that places its faith in scientific progress and advancement as drivers of society, which translated into an atmosphere of pessimism, criticism and loss of human values, which expressionism was able to reflect well.
This atmosphere would only worsen after the First World War and expressionism would expand its horizons to cinema and theatre, becoming a movement quite central to the imagination of the timeThis would last until the Second World War, when it would be classified by the Nazis as “degenerate art” and linked to communism; although it would briefly re-emerge in the United States as abstract expressionism.
Expressionism style
Although in expressionism Numerous artists of different aesthetics metthe movement always had a predominant concern for the subjective content of the work over the harmony and resemblance to reality of its forms. Importance was given to the “inner” vision of the artist and not to the imitation of everyday life.
This in some cases could produce more figurative or more abstract artaccording to the interests and styles of the artist, and even in artistic forms such as literature or architecture, implied a true artistic renewal that tended towards the abstract and the reflective.
Expressionist painting
Many expressionists had a large presence in the main German cities.
The birthplace and most prominent field of expressionism was painting. Its beginnings were among two groups of German artists: The Bridge (“The bridge”) and The Blue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”). Even then, colour, dynamism and sensations were emerging as the great resources of this pictorial trend.
The expressionist painters were very active and diverse.held numerous exhibitions and had a notable presence in the main German cities. This trend would later spread to other countries such as France (with the School of Paris), Belgium (especially around the magazine Selection), Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Sweden and, in the American continent, the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil.
Expressionist architecture
Expressionist architecture experimented with utopian perspectives.
Expressionist architecture It was cultivated particularly in Germany, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Austria and Czechoslovakia.strongly influenced by modernism and by the criticism of functionalism, which Paul Scheerbart accused in his essay Glass architecture (1914) of lacking artisticity.
This trend took advantage of the mass production of different materials at the time construction materials such as bricks, steel and glass, to expand their possibilities and experiment with utopian perspectives and more daring forms, often venturing into certain stylistic excesses.
Expressionist sculpture
In expressionism, sculpture It consisted of an individual break from traditional forms of sculptingrather than a uniform trend. Towards 1920, this trend derived more than anything in abstractionism, in search of a liberation of forms that would provide plenitude to artistic expression.
Expressionist literature
Expressionist poetry assumed the aesthetics of the ugly and the grotesque.
Expressionism literature embraced more than any other art form the crisis of existential emptiness prevailing in the society of the time. This was expressed through investigations into illness, madness and deformity, which often led to existential absurdity.
Expressionist narrative It was fundamentally divided between an experimental and reflective aspectmore inclined to the abstract and subjective, and another naturalistic and objectivizing one, which emerged as a reaction. The peak of this trend was the appearance of illogical, labyrinthine works, such as those of Franz Kafka.
In poetry the aesthetics of the ugly and the grotesque were assumed, the deformed and the firm expression that does not adhere to grammatical or stylistic rulesThe meter and the sonnet were maintained, although free verse also appeared.
And expressionist dramaturgy abandoned the realistic representation of naturalism and He intended to make theatre a means to ideologically and philosophically renew the public.Thus, works with very free themes were undertaken, with a great detachment from logic and a heavy load of anguish, despair, loneliness and suffering in their characters and situations.
Expressionist music
Expressionist music reflected the artist’s state of mind.
Another prominent area of expressionism was music, in which they saw the opportunity to create a language stripped of words and verbal meaningsa direct and authentic route to the artist’s subjectivity.
Thus, The aim was to free music from its tonality and from rules and conventions.allowing it to reflect the artist’s mood more than anything else, thus giving rise to dodecaphonic music. The latter is a musical scale inspired by the twelve tones of the chromatic scale, used in series, in a disorderly fashion, but without repeating a single one before the entire scale has sounded.
Other expressionist arts
German expressionist cinema made use of dark themes.
Dance, opera and especially cinema They were influenced by expressionism, which freed them from formal conventions and allowed for a freer exploration of the feelings expressed.
In the field of cinema, especially German expressionism He produced notable works, drawing on dark themes and dreamlike, surrealist representations, whose settings were more similar to a painting than to reality itself, deforming according to the expressive needs of the plot.
Representatives of expressionism
A brief list of the main authors and artists of expressionism includes:
- Paint. Otto Mueller, Georges Rouault, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall, José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Piet Mondrian, Hans Arp, Max Ernst, Karl Hofer, Franz Marc, Egon Schiele, Oswaldo Guayasamín, among many others.
- Architecture. Bruno Taut, Walter Gropius, Erich Mendelsohn, Hans Poelzig, Hermann Finsterlin, Fritz Höger, Hans Scharoun and Rudolf Steiner.
- Sculpture. Ernst Barlach, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Käthe Kollwitz, Bernhard Hoetger, Renée Sintenis, Jacob Epstein and Antoine Bourdelle.
- Literature. The author of the novel is a poet, …
- Music. Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton von Webern, Kurt Weill.
- Cinema. Robert Wiene, Paul Wagener, Fritz Lang, Ewald André Dupont, Robert Siodmak, among others.