The theme of my project is Expressionism. Therefore, I thought that it was important for me to make a deeper research about this subject, so that the style that I am using in my project will be clear.
Expressionism is an artistic movement in which the artists aim to express his emotions, instead of representing the reality and it exists in every type of art as music, theatre, paintings and so on. It began in post -World War II and continued through the 1960's.
The Expressionism had a big impact, specially, in German artists and it is possible to distinguish two main groups of these: Die Brücke (The Bridge) led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. The German Expressionism was influenced by the works of Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh and James Ensor, which had a very personal and uniques painting style. Similarly to the German artists, they left the literal representation of the reality so that they could represent more subjective themes as feelings or states of mind.
Die Brücke (The Bridge)
Die Brücke ("The Bridge") began about 1905 when a group of German artists, that included Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, who gave he group its name, and Fritz Bleyl, led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner formed an association. These painters wanted to reintroduce to the German art a spiritual elemenet that they thought it was missing, through a personal expression.
This movement expressed feelings such as frustration, anxiety, violence through distorted lines, rough and fast bruchwork, and harsh colour in agitated compositions, in which is notable the expression of his emotions and states of mind. The Bridge influenced art from all Europe and even in Germany they started to work in other Expressionist modes, which originated another group entitled Der Blaue Reiter (" The Blue Rider"). However, their art is more concerned with formal problems, less emotional and, generally, more abstract.
Their first manifesto was written in 1905 by Kirchner - the purpose of Die Brücke was to create an original style which denied traditional painting's conventions. At that time many artists imitated the art from other places as Africa and Pacific Islands in which there was as apparent "primitive" quality. The French Fauve artists were similarly exploring this, as well was Kirchner and Heckel. However these were different since Fauvist art did not express anger, anxiety or any other emotions related to the Expressionism and the way they treated colour was a lot more lyrical. Die Brucke was also influenced by the German Gothic woodcuts and by the prints of Edvard Munch.
In 1911, there were some tense relationshiphs among the artists of the group. Therefore, in 1913, the group disbanded, given that this tensions increased.
Neither a movement nor a school with a program, Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider") had its beginnig in the year of 1911 as a loose assocition of painters leaded by Wassily Kadinsky and Franz Marc. Both of these artists, shared an interested in abstracted forms and prismatic colours, or in another words, colors that are present in the visible spectrum produced when a white light passes through a prism. They believed that these elements had spiritual values that could counterbalance the materialism of that time.
Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider")
Neither a movement nor a school with a program, Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider") had its beginnig in the year of 1911 as a loose assocition of painters leaded by Wassily Kadinsky and Franz Marc. Both of these artists, shared an interested in abstracted forms and prismatic colours, or in another words, colors that are present in the visible spectrum produced when a white light passes through a prism. They believed that these elements had spiritual values that could counterbalance the materialism of that time.
After renuncing the Neue Künstlervereinigung-München (“New Artists’ Society-Munich”), 14 artists exhibited 43 works. These were very diverse but in general they reflected the spiritual expression. The show was entitled "First Exhibition by the Eiitors of the Blue Rider"and was held between December 1911 and January 1912 at the Moderne Galeria Tannhäuser, in Munich.
After the first exhibition, many artists were drawn to the expressive freedom that their works reflected and volunteered to take part in a second exhibition. This second exhibition was held in Februrary 1912 and included 315 artworks by over 30 international artists. It was clear by then that Der Blaue Reiter was as artistically oriented as Die Brücke. However their Expressionism was a lot more lyrical and abstract than the Die Brücke. Der Blaue Reiter painters were influenced by styles and movements such as the Judendstill group, Cubism, Futurism and folk art.
The name Blaue Rider ("blue rider") refers to an important motif in Wassily Kandinsky's artworks: the horse and the rider, which, on his point of view, was a symbol of moving from the literal representation of the reality. The horse was also a subject in Franz Marc's works, in which the animals were a symbol of rebirth.
Reference:
Academic Britannica (n.d.) Expressionism [online] Available from: https://academic-eb-com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/levels/collegiate/article/Expressionism/33453 [Accessed 12.02.2021]
Collins (n.d.), Prismatic colours [online] Available from: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/prismatic-colors [Accessed 13.02.2021]
Academic Britannica (n.d.) Die Brücke [online] Available from: https://academic-eb-com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/levels/collegiate/article/Die-Br%C3%BCcke/16748 [Accessed 13.02.2021]
MoMA (n.d.) Der Blaue Reiter [online] Available from: https://www.moma.org/s/ge/curated_ge/styles/blaue_reiter.html [Accessed 13.02.2021]
Academic Britannica (n.d.), Der Blaue Reiter [online] AVailable from: https://academic-eb-com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/levels/collegiate/article/Der-Blaue-Reiter/15620 [Accessed 13.02.2021]
Good research however I would have liked to have seen more direct research on one of the images here to show an in-depth understanding of the techniques and the piece itself
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