The term Expressionism became commonly used
in Germany around 1910 to describe
avant-garde art of the time.
Expressionist art grew out of the work of Symbolist artists
such as Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch
and Vincent Van Gogh.
Feelings were emphasised above all else:
Expression over Impression
Expressionism over Impressionism.
Artists associated with Expressionism emerged in centres
across Germany and Austria.
In Dresden, a group of artists
called themselves Die Brücke
or The Bridge
seeing their art as the bridge into the future
as they freed themselves of the constraints of tradition.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a key member of The Bridge
This early painting by him is highly decorative
as well as expressive.
The bold use of colour and exaggerated form
express the exotic qualities of the subject
A Japanese theatre group performing in Dresden
something new and exotic, escaping from tradition.
Emil Nolde, a member of The Bridge for a short while
was a frequent visitor to the ethnographic museum in Berlin.
This painting looks forward to his trip in 1914
to the South Pacific.
The heavy brush strokes, shadowy figure
and use of deep red gives the viewer
a sense of foreboding.
Like Kirchner, Nolde was interested
in trying to escape traditional artistic forms
and in drawing inspiration from non-western culture.
Another Expressionist group developed in Munich
at the same time as The Bridge.
This group, called Der Blaue Reiter, or The Blue Rider
took its name from a painting by Wassily Kandinsky.
The art of the group emphasized the spiritual over the earthbound.
After the First World War a new wave of artists
came to prominence, rejecting the outpouring
of emotions of expressionist art
and turned to a matter of fact depiction of the world.
The new movement was known as New Objectivity.
George Grosz, who was associated with New Objectivity
claimed it revealed to the oppressed
the true faces of their oppressors:
ugly, corrupt.
In time though Expressionists and Realists
who did confront the brutality
of the modern industrialized world
would find themselves victims of it.
Weimar Germany embraced avant-garde cinema,
art, architecture, and theatre
but this came to an abrupt end in 1933
when Hitler's Nazi party came to power.
The Nazis labelled modern art degenerate art
Expressionists and other avant-garde art
like New Objectivity was censored
for not upholding what they saw as “German values”
Once classified as degenerate
many artists went into exile abroad
Kirchner killed himself.
Expressionists continued though,
in a fragmented way to create emotive work.
Their influence survived in later art movements
like Abstract Expressionism
and Neo Expressionism.
After the Second World War,
Expressionism was rediscovered
and reclaimed in Germany as part of its true heritage.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s in Germany
several artists looked back
at the expressionist forerunners
and were themselves dubbed Neo Expressionists.
Georg Baselitz was one such artist.
Censorship and persecution couldn't stop
the influence of these avant-garde artists.
But if art is born from the human spirit,
should we really be surprised?
