Product Code Database
Example Keywords: the elder -programming $75-149
   » » Wiki: Expressionism
Tag Wiki 'Expressionism'.
Tag

Expressionism
Search for expressionism expressionist
 ( ) 

 C O N T E N T S 
Rank: 100%
Bluestar Bluestar Bluestar Bluestar Blackstar
  1. Wiki
  2. Comments
  3. Media

Expressionism is a , initially in and , originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, entry for Expressionism Expressionist artists have sought to express the meaningVictorino Tejera, 1966, pages 85,140, Art and Human Intelligence, Vision Press Limited, London of emotional experience rather than physical reality.The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary, 1976 edition, page 294

Expressionism developed as an style before the First World War. It remained popular during the ,Bruce Thompson, University of California, Santa Cruz, lecture on Weimar culture/Kafka'a Prague particularly in Berlin. The style extended to a wide range of the arts, including expressionist architecture, painting, literature, theatre, dance, film and music.

(1995). 9780714832470, Phaidon. .
Paris became a gathering place for a group of Expressionist artists, many of Jewish origin, dubbed the School of Paris. After World War II, figurative expressionism influenced artists and styles around the world.

The term is sometimes suggestive of . In a historical sense, much older painters such as Matthias Grünewald and are sometimes termed expressionist, though the term is applied mainly to 20th-century works. The Expressionist emphasis on individual and subjective perspective has been characterized as a reaction to and other artistic styles such as Naturalism and . page 241

Etymology and history
While the word expressionist was used in the modern sense as early as 1850, its origin is sometimes traced to paintings exhibited in 1901 in Paris by obscure artist Julien-Auguste Hervé, which he called Expressionismes.John Willett, Expressionism. New York: World University Library, 1970, p.25; Richard Sheppard, "German Expressionism", in Modernism: 1890–1930, ed. Bradbury & McFarlane, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976, p.274. An alternative view is that the term was coined by the Czech art historian Antonin Matějček in 1910 as the opposite of : "An Expressionist wishes, above all, to express himself... (an Expressionist rejects) immediate perception and builds on more complex psychic structures... Impressions and mental images that pass through ... people's soul as through a filter which rids them of all substantial accretions to produce their clear essence ...and are assimilated and condensed into more general forms, into types, which he transcribes through simple short-hand formulae and symbols."Cited in Donald E. Gordon, Expressionism: Art and Ideas. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987, p. 175.

Important precursors of Expressionism were the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), especially his philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–1892); the later plays of the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg (1849–1912), including the trilogy (1898–1901), A Dream Play (1902), The Ghost Sonata (1907); (1864–1918), especially the "Lulu" plays Erdgeist ( Earth Spirit) (1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora ( Pandora's Box) (1904); the American poet 's (1819–1892) Leaves of Grass (1855–1891); the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881); Norwegian painter (1863–1944); Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890); Belgian painter (1860–1949);R. S. Furness, Expressionism. London: Methuen, pp.2–14; Willett, pp. 20–24. and pioneering Austrian psychoanalyst (1856–1939).

In 1905, a group of four German artists, led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, formed Die Brücke (the Bridge) in the city of Dresden. This was arguably the founding organization for the German Expressionist movement, though they did not use the word itself. A few years later, in 1911, a like-minded group of young artists formed Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in Munich. The name came from Wassily Kandinsky's Der Blaue Reiter painting of 1903. Among their members were Kandinsky, , , and . However, the term Expressionism did not firmly establish itself until 1913.Richard Sheppard, p.274. Though mainly a German artistic movement initiallyNote the parallel French movement Fauvism and the English Vorticism: "The Fauvist movement has been compared to German Expressionism, both projecting brilliant colors and spontaneous brushwork, and indebted to the same late nineteenth-century sources, especially Van Gogh." Sabine Rewald, "Fauvism", In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fauv/hd_fauv.htm (October 2004); and "Vorticism can be thought of as English Expressionism." Sherrill E. Grace, Regression and Apocalypse: Studies in North American Literary Expressionism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989, p. 26. and most predominant in painting, poetry and the theatre between 1910 and 1930, most precursors of the movement were not German. Furthermore, there have been expressionist writers of prose fiction, as well as non-German-speaking expressionist writers, and, while the movement declined in Germany with the rise of in the 1930s, there were subsequent expressionist works.

Expressionism is notoriously difficult to define, in part because it "overlapped with other major 'isms' of the modernist period: with , , , and ."Sherrill E. Grace, Regression and Apacaypse: Studies in North American Literary Expressionism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989, p.26). Richard Murphy also comments, “the search for an all-inclusive definition is problematic to the extent that the most challenging expressionists such as , and Döblin were simultaneously the most vociferous 'anti-expressionists.'"Richard Murphy, Theorizing the Avant-Garde: Modernism, Expressionism, and the Problem of Postmodernity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1999, p. 43.

What can be said, however, is that it was a movement that developed in the early twentieth century, mainly in Germany, in reaction to the dehumanizing effect of industrialization and the growth of cities, and that "one of the central means by which expressionism identifies itself as an movement, and by which it marks its distance to traditions and the cultural institution as a whole is through its relationship to realism and the dominant conventions of representation."Richard Murphy, p. 43. More explicitly, that the expressionists rejected the ideology of realism.Murphy, especially pp. 43–48; and Walter H. Sokel, The Writer in Extremis. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1959, especially Chapter One.

The term refers to an "artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person". Britannica Online Encyclopaedia (February, 2012). It is arguable that all artists are expressive but there are many examples of art production in Europe from the 15th century onward which emphasize extreme emotion. Such art often occurs during times of social upheaval and war, such as the Protestant Reformation, German Peasants' War, and Eighty Years' War between the Spanish and the Netherlands, when extreme violence, much directed at civilians, was represented in propagandist . These were often unimpressive aesthetically but had the capacity to arouse extreme emotions in the viewer.

Expressionism has been likened to by critics such as art historian Michel Ragon

(1968). 9780900948640, Heron. .
and German philosopher .
(1998). 9781859848999, Verso. .
According to , a difference between the two is that "Expressionism doesn't shun the violently unpleasant effect, while Baroque does. Expressionism throws some terrific 'fuck yous', Baroque doesn't. Baroque is well-mannered."

Notable Expressionists
Some of the style's main visual artists of the early 20th century were:

Groups of painters
In Germany and Austria
, Rehe im Walde ( Deer in Woods), 1914|left]]The style originated principally in Germany and Austria. There were groups of expressionist painters, including Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke. Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider, named after a painting) was based in Munich and Die Brücke (The Bridge) was originally based in (some members moved to ). Die Brücke was active for a longer period than Der Blaue Reiter, which was only together for a year (1912). The Expressionists were influenced by artists and sources including Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh and ., "Desire in Berlin", New York Review of Books, December 8, 2008, p. 19. They were also aware of the work being done by the in Paris, who influenced Expressionism's tendency toward arbitrary colours and jarring compositions. In reaction and opposition to French Impressionism, which emphasized the rendering of the visual appearance of objects, Expressionist artists sought to portray emotions and subjective interpretations. It was not important to reproduce an aesthetically pleasing impression of the artistic subject matter, they felt, but rather to represent vivid emotional reactions by powerful colours and dynamic compositions. Kandinsky, the main artist of Der Blaue Reiter, believed that with simple colours and shapes the spectator could perceive the moods and feelings in the paintings, a theory that encouraged him towards increased abstraction.

The School of Paris
In Paris a group of artists dubbed the École de Paris (School of Paris) by André Warnod were also known for their expressionist art. This was especially prevalent amongst the foreign born Jewish painters of the School of Paris such as Chaim Soutine, , , Abraham Mintchine and others.
(2025). 9798633355567, Les Étoiles Éditions.
These artists' expressionism was described as restless and emotional by Frenkel. These artists, centered in the Montparnasse district of Paris tended to portray human subjects and humanity, evoking emotion through facial expression.
(2025). 9789657161234, מוזיאון תל־אביב לאמנות.
Others focused on the expression of mood rather than a formal structure.Roditi, Eduard (1968). "The School of Paris". European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe, 3(2), 13–20. The art of Jewish expressionists was characterized as dramatic and tragic, perhaps in connection to Jewish suffering following persecution and pogroms.

In the United States
The ideas of German expressionism influenced the work of American artist , who met Kandinsky in Germany in 1913"Hartley, Marsden", Oxford Art Online Katherine Sophie Dreier and were likely among the first to attempt to introduce “modern art” to New York with the founding of the Société Anonyme in 1920. Their pioneering efforts were continued in 1929 by William Henry Fox, director of the , who also advocated for the promotion of modern, and in particular, Expressionist art. Nevertheless, the reception of Expressionist art from Germany was initially marked by considerable skepticism. It was not until the Munich exhibition “” in 1937 that a drastic shift occurred in the United States: Expressionist works began to be increasingly acquired and exhibited by American museums—above all, to present them as an expression of a resistant culture in opposition to an authoritarian regime hostile to freedom.Konstantin Kountouroyanis: Von der Expressionismus-Debatte zum „post-expressionistischen Film“ - Kristin Eichhorn und Johannes S. Lorenzen geben regelmäßig erscheinende Aufsatzsammlungen zu expressionistischen Themen heraus : literaturkritik.de. Accessed on July 20, 2025 In late 1939, at the beginning of World War II, New York City received many European artists. After the war, Expressionism influenced many young American artists. (1921–1981) studied with in 1947 and during the next 43 years produced a large body of work in the Expressionist tradition. Embry has been termed "the first American German Expressionist". Other American artists of the late 20th and early 21st century have developed distinct styles that may be considered part of Expressionism.

After World War II, figurative expressionism influenced artists and styles around the world. In the U.S., American Expressionism and American Figurative Expressionism, particularly Boston Expressionism, were an integral part of American modernism around the Second World War.Bram Dijkstra, American expressionism : art and social change, 1920–1950,(New York : H.N. Abrams, in association with the Columbus Museum of Art, 2003.) , Judith Bookbinder, Boston modern: figurative expressionism as alternative modernism (Durham, N.H. : University of New Hampshire Press; Hanover : University Press of New England, ©2005.) , Thomas B. Hess wrote that "the ‘New figurative painting’ which some have been expecting as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism was implicit in it at the start, and is one of its most lineal continuities."Thomas B. Hess, “The Many Deaths of American Art,” Art News 59 (October 1960), p.25

, . Available on Google Books. "Exhibition archive: Expanding Boundaries: Lyrical Abstraction", Boca Raton Museum of Art, 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2009. "John Seery", National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  • Neo-expressionism was an international revival style that began in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Representative paintings
File:Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Nollendorfplatz.jpg|Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Nollendorfplatz, 1912 File:August Macke 005.jpg|, Lady in a Green Jacket, 1913 File:Fighting Forms.jpg|, Fighting Forms, 1914 File:Kirchner - Selbstbildnis als Soldat.jpg|Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self-Portrait as a Soldier, 1915 File:Chaïm Soutine - Vue de Céret.jpg|Chaïm Soutine - Vue de Céret 1922 File:Abraham Mintchine - Pierrot 1928.jpg|Abraham Mintchine - Pierrot 1928 File:Carcass of Beef by Chaim Soutine, c. 1925, Albright-Knox Art Gallery.jpg|Chaim Soutine - Carcass of Beef c. 1925

In other arts
The Expressionist movement included other types of culture, including dance, sculpture, cinema and theatre.

Dance
Exponents of expressionist dance included , Rudolf von Laban, and .
(1997). 9781135305642, Routledge. .

Sculpture
Some used the Expressionist style, as for example . Other expressionist artists known mainly as painters, such as , also worked with sculpture.

Cinema
There was an Expressionist style in German cinema, important examples of which are 's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), 's (1920), 's Metropolis (1927) and F. W. Murnau's (1922) and The Last Laugh (1924). The term "expressionist" is also sometimes used to refer to stylistic devices thought to resemble those of German Expressionism, such as cinematography or the style of several of the films of . More generally, the term expressionism can be used to describe cinematic styles of great artifice, such as the technicolor melodramas of or the sound and visual design of 's films.
(2025). 9781856694421, Laurence King Publishing. .

Literature
Journals
Two leading Expressionist journals published in Berlin were , published by starting in 1910, and , which first appeared in 1911 and was edited by . Der Sturm published poetry and prose from contributors such as , , , Alfred Döblin, , , Arno Holz, Karl Kraus, Selma Lagerlöf, , , , and René Schickele, and writings, drawings, and prints by such artists as , Kandinsky, and members of Der blaue Reiter.
(2012). 9783110804225, Walter de Gruyter. .

Drama
's 1909 playlet, Murderer, The Hope of Women is often termed the first expressionist drama. In it, an unnamed man and woman struggle for dominance. The man brands the woman; she stabs and imprisons him. He frees himself and she falls dead at his touch. As the play ends, he slaughters all around him (in the words of the text) "like mosquitoes." The extreme simplification of characters to mythic types, choral effects, declamatory dialogue and heightened intensity all would become characteristic of later expressionist plays.
(1995). 9780472105076, University of Michigan Press. .
The German composer created an operatic version of this play, which premiered in 1921.
(1991). 9780520070141, University of California Press. .

Expressionism was a dominant influence on early 20th-century German theatre, of which and were the most famous playwrights. Other notable Expressionist dramatists included , Walter Hasenclever, Hans Henny Jahnn, and . Important precursors were the Swedish playwright August Strindberg and German actor and dramatist Frank Wedekind. During the 1920s, Expressionism enjoyed a brief period of influence in American theatre, including the early modernist plays by Eugene O'Neill ( The Hairy Ape, The Emperor Jones and The Great God Brown), ( ) and ( The Adding Machine).

(2013). 9781408145913, A&C Black. .

Expressionist plays often dramatise the spiritual awakening and sufferings of their protagonists. Some utilise an dramatic structure and are known as Stationendramen (station plays), modeled on the presentation of the suffering and death of in the Stations of the Cross. Strindberg had pioneered this form with his autobiographical trilogy . These plays also often dramatise the struggle against bourgeois values and established authority, frequently personified by the Father. In Sorge's The Beggar, ( Der Bettler), for example, the young hero's mentally ill father raves about the prospect of mining the riches of Mars and is finally poisoned by his son. In Bronnen's ( Vatermord), the son stabs his tyrannical father to death, only to have to fend off the frenzied sexual overtures of his mother.

(1983). 9780521296304, Cambridge University Press. .

In Expressionist drama, the speech may be either expansive and rhapsodic, or clipped and telegraphic. Director became famous for his expressionistic productions, often set on stark, steeply raked flights of stairs (having borrowed the idea from the Symbolist director and designer, Edward Gordon Craig). Staging was especially important in Expressionist drama, with directors forgoing the illusion of reality to block actors in as close to two-dimensional movement. Directors also made heavy use of lighting effects to create stark contrast and as another method to heavily emphasize emotion and convey the play or a scene's message.

German expressionist playwrights:

Playwrights influenced by Expressionism:

  • Seán O'Casey (1880–1964)Furness, pp.89–90.
  • Eugene O'Neill (1885–1953)
  • (1892–1967)
  • Tennessee Williams (1911–1983)Stokel, p.1.
  • (1915–2005)
  • (1906–1989)Stokel, p.1; Lois Oppenheimer, The Painted Word: Samuel Beckett's Dialogue with Art. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000, pp.74, 126–7, 128; Jessica Prinz, "Resonant Images: Beckett and German Expressionism", in Samuel Beckett and the Arts: Music, Visual Arts, and Non-Print Media, ed. Lois Oppenheim. New York: Garland Publishing, 1999.

Poetry
Among the poets associated with German Expressionism were: Other poets influenced by expressionism:
  • T. S. EliotR. S. Furness, Expressionism. London: Methuen, 1973, p.81.
  • Rudolf Broby-Johansen
  • Tom Kristensen
  • Pär Lagerkvist
  • Edith Södergran

Prose
In prose, the early stories and novels of Alfred Döblin were influenced by Expressionism, and is sometimes labelled an Expressionist.Walter H. Sokel, The Writer in Extremis. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1959, pp 3, 29, 84 especially; Richard Murphy, Theorizing the Avant-Garde. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1999, especially pp 41,142. Some further writers and works that have been called Expressionist include:
  • (1883–1924): "The Metamorphosis" (1915), (1925), The Castle (1926), "Franz Kafka, Expressionism, and Reification" in Passion and Rebellion: The Expressionist Heritage, eds. Stephen Bronner and Douglas Kellner. New York: Universe Books, 1983 pp, pp.201–16.
  • Alfred Döblin (1878–1957): Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929)Richard Murphy, Theorizing the Avant-Garde: Modernism, Expressionism and the Problem of Postmodernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp.74–141; Ulf Zimmermann, "Expressionism and Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz " in Passion and Rebellion, pp.217–234.
  • (1882–1957)Sheila Watson, Wyndham Lewis Expressionist. Ph.D Thesis, University of Toronto, 1965.
  • (1892–1982): (1936)Sherrill E. Grace, Regression and Apocalypse: Studies in North American Literary Expressionism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989, pp.141–162.
  • (1909–1957): Under the Volcano (1947)
  • Raymond S. Nelson, Hemingway, Expressionist Artist. Ames, Iowa University Press, 1979; Robert Paul Lamb, Art matters: Hemingway, Craft, and the Creation of the Modern Short Story. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c.2010.
  • (1882–1941): "The Nighttown" section of Ulysses (1922)Walter H. Sokel, The Writer in Extremis. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1959, p.1; R. S. Furness, Expressionism. London: Methuen, 1973, p. 81.
  • (1912–1990)Sherrill E. Grace, p.7.
  • D. H. LawrenceSherrill E. Grace, p.7
  • Sheila Watson: Double HookSherrill E. Grace, pp 185–209.
  • : Auto-da-FéSherrill E. Grace, p.12.
  • Sherrill E. Grace, p.7, 241–3.
  • Jeffrey Stayton, "Southern Expressionism: Apocalyptic Hillscapes, Racial Panoramas, and Lustmord in William Faulkner’s Light in August". The Southern Literary Journal, Volume 42, Number 1, Fall 2009, pp. 32–56.
  • James Hanley (1897–1985)Ken Worpole, Dockers and Detectives. London: Verso Editions, 1983, pp. 77–93.
  • Raul Brandão (1867–1930): Húmus (1917)
  • (1871–1919): Devil's Diary (1919)

Music
The term expressionism "was probably first applied to music in 1918, especially to Schoenberg", because like the painter Kandinsky he avoided "traditional forms of beauty" to convey powerful feelings in his music. The Norton Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music, ed Stanley Sadie. New York: Norton1991, p. 244. Arnold Schoenberg, and , the members of the Second Viennese School, are important Expressionists (Schoenberg was also an expressionist painter).Theodor Adorno, Night Music: Essays on Music 1928–1962. (London: Seagull, 2009), p.274-8. Other composers that have been associated with expressionism are (the Second Symphony), ( The Young Maiden), ( Japanese Songs), Alexander Scriabin (late piano sonatas) (Adorno 2009, 275). Another significant expressionist was Béla Bartók in early works, written in the second decade of the 20th century, such as Bluebeard's Castle (1911),Nicole V. Gagné, Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music (Plymouth, England: Scarecrow Press, 2011), p.92. The Wooden Prince (1917),Andrew Clements, "Classical preview: The Wooden Prince", The Guardian, 5 May 2007. and The Miraculous Mandarin (1919). The Cambridge Companion to Bartók, ed. Amanda Bayley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p.152. Important precursors of expressionism are (1813–1883), (1860–1911), and (1864–1949)."Expressionism," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000. ; Donald Mitchell, Gustav Mahler: The Wunderhorn Years: Chronicles and Commentaries. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2005

describes expressionism as concerned with the unconscious, and states that "the depiction of fear lies at the centre" of expressionist music, with dissonance predominating, so that the "harmonious, affirmative element of art is banished" (Adorno 2009, 275–76). and Die Glückliche Hand, by Schoenberg, and , an opera by Alban Berg (based on the play by Georg Büchner), are examples of Expressionist works.Edward Rothstein New York Times Review/Opera: "Wozzeck; The Lyric Dresses Up Berg's 1925 Nightmare In a Modern Message". New York Times February 3, 1994; Theodor Adorno, Night Music (2009), p.276. If one were to draw an analogy from paintings, one may describe the expressionist painting technique as the distortion of reality (mostly colors and shapes) to create a nightmarish effect for the particular painting as a whole. Expressionist music roughly does the same thing, where the dramatically increased dissonance creates, aurally, a nightmarish atmosphere.Theodor Adorno, Night Music (2009), pp275-6.

Architecture
In architecture, two specific buildings are identified as Expressionist: 's of the Werkbund Exhibition (1914), and 's in , Germany completed in 1921. The interior of 's Berlin theatre (the Grosse Schauspielhaus), designed for the director Max Reinhardt, is also cited sometimes. The influential architectural critic and historian , in his book Space, Time and Architecture (1941), dismissed Expressionist architecture as a part of the development of functionalism. In Mexico, in 1953, German émigré published the Arquitectura Emocional ("Emotional Architecture") manifesto with which he declared that "architecture's principal function is emotion".Mathias Goeritz, "El manifiesto de arquitectura emocional", in Lily Kassner, Mathias Goeritz, UNAM, 2007, p. 272-273 Modern Mexican architect Luis Barragán adopted the term that influenced his work. The two of them collaborated in the project Torres de Satélite (1957–58) guided by Goeritz's principles of Arquitectura Emocional.
(2016). 9780520291072, Univ of California Press. .
It was only during the 1970s that Expressionism in architecture came to be re-evaluated more positively.
(2003). 9781134983810, Routledge. .
(2025). 9781864700855, Images Publishing. .

See also

Further reading

External links
  • Hottentots in tails – a turbulent history of the group by Christian Saehrendt at signandsight.com
  • German Expressionism – a free resource with paintings from German expressionists (high-quality) (archived 20 February 2006)

:
Page 1 of 1
1
Page 1 of 1
1

Account

Social:
Pages:  ..   .. 
Items:  .. 
Click to view the UPC Scavenger App on google play.

Navigation

General: Atom Feed Atom Feed  .. 
Help:  ..   .. 
Category:  ..   .. 
Media:  ..   .. 
Posts:  ..   ..   .. 

Statistics

Page:  .. 
Summary:  .. 
1 Tags
10/10 Page Rank
5 Page Refs
2s Time