Introduction to Modern Art Lecture III

Expressionism

expression – Emotions as shown through bodily gesture; the communication (in visual image, speech or writing) of beliefs or opinions. The verb form is, to express.

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889Post-impressionism

Van Gogh, The Sower, 1888

Japanese print by Hiroshige and Van Gogh painting

The Artist Bedroom, 1889

Van Gogh, Church at Anvers, 1890

Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait, 1890Post-impressionism

Gauguin, Vision of the Sermon of the Mount, 1888

Gauguin, 1892

Gauguin, Nevermorehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQu1RMIkg3c

Tahitian Scuplture of Fertility God

Douanier Rousseau, Sleeping Gipsy, 1897

Rousseau, 1891

authentic - Being genuine; original; the real thing. Having a claimed and verifiable origin or authorship; not counterfeit or copied.

creative – having the ability or power to produce with originality or novelty and expressive power. He was an extremely creative person. creativity – The capacity or power to create. Productivity with originality or novelty and expression; imagination; newness. This typically requires being comfortable with making mistakes and not being in fully conscious control of what one is doing. Her work showed great creativity.

 free-play – Improvisation in thought and action. ‘The tutor encouraged the students to explore the free-play of their imaginations.’

 improvisation – a presentation made without planning, or a spontaneous creative act. ‘The tutor encouraged improvisation as a way of image-making.’

intuition - The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition. It is often related to unconscious thought processes. In the studying, making and appreciation of art, intuition is a vital but little understood factor. ‘She

used her intuition while planning her work’

irrational – without the faculty of reason; deprived of reason;

magic – Various beliefs often related to religion which hold that human life is controlled by non-material forces, and that it is possible through the performance of special rituals to channel these forces in order to influence thoughts, behaviour and events in the past, present and future.

sensuality - Excessive devotion to delights of the senses — physical, especially sexual gratification rather than spiritual or intellectual pleasures; worldliness. 

spiritual - Describing a non-material and transcendent reality that is often related to religious practice, and which is usually considered to be of more significance than material reality. Many artists, especially those pursuing abstraction, have been concerned with this dimension to existence.

subjectivity - Expression of the individuality or personal point of view of someone. ‘The work communicated a powerful feeling of the subjectivity of the artist.’

Primitivism - In general, a belief in the value of what is simple and unsophisticated. In art, it refers to a broad movement away from traditions associated with Western classicism at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. This was motivated by the wish to criticize the negative impact of modernization on life in the developed world, and reflects a desire to return to the values expressed by societies before industrialization. A particular point of reference were the artifacts produced by non-Western cultures that were being encountered through colonization, such as in Africa and the South Pacific. Post-Impressionism, Expressionism and Abstract art often display the characteristics of primitivism, by emphasizing intuition, expression, emotionalism, the irrational, the spiritual, and the subjective. Works appeared by conventional standards to be to be unfinished, distorted, gestural, and to use unnaturalistic colours. Today, the term is considered to depend on a Eurocentric world-view, and is therefore used only to refer to a tendency in Western culture during a specific historical period.

Expressionism

• 1. French Expressionism

Fauvism - The name Fauves, French for "Wild Beasts," was given to artists working in this style because it was felt that they used strong non-naturalistic colours in a violent, uncontrolled way. Important Fauves were Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) and André Derain (French, 1880-1954).

Henri Matisse, Joy of Living, 1906

Henri Matisse, Bathers, 1905

Henri Matisse, Fauvist painting, 1905

Henri Matisse, Portrait of Mrs. Matisse, 1906

Henri Matisse, The Red Room

André Derain, Fauvist Landscape, 1905

André Derain, Fauvist landscape, 1906

Expressionism

• 2. Northern European Expressionism

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893

Edvard Munch

Munch paintings

Die Brucke or Die Brücke or The Bridge - A group of German Expressionist artists based in Dresden and Berlin between 1905 and 1913, mostly painters. They painted landscapes, nudes, and carnival performers in strong colors and broad forms. Die Brücke artists include Ernst Kirchner (1880-1938), Erich Heckel (1883-1970), and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976), and Emil Nolde (1867-1956), Oscar Kokoschka (Austrian, 1886-1980)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, The Street, 1907

Ernst Ludwig KirchnerLeft: Berlin Street scene, 1908Right: Self-Portrait as a Soldier, 1915

Kirchner, Berlin Street Scene

African Tribal Masks

Emile Nolder, Masks, 1910

Emile NoldeLeft: Dance of the Golden calf, 1910Right: Crucifixion, 1912

• Other German Expressionists

Oscar Kokoschka, The Tempest, 1913-1914

Max Beckmann, Self Portraits

Max Beckmann, The Night, 1919http://www.moma.org/audio_file/audio_file/3174/610.mp3

Otto Dix

George Grosz, The City, 1917

Der Blaue Reiter – Meaning ‘The Blue Rider’ in German; a group of artists based in Munich from 1911 to 1914, mostly expressionist painters. Some of the important members of the group were Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944), Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941;), Gabrielle Münter (1877-1962), Franz Marc (1880-1916), Paul Klee (1879-1940), and August Macke (1887-1914).

Franz Marc,. Yellow Cow, 1912

Franz Marc, Animals Fate, 1913

Wassily Kandinsky, Street Scene, Murmau, 1908

Kandinsky, Cossacks, 1910-11

Kandinsky, Abstract Composition, 1912

The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariGerman Expressionist film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAtpxqajFak

Korean Tiger Painting. Left – academic. Right - folk

Korean Folk Painting