Introduction This article is a very short introduction for those who would like an explanation of what Expressionism is. This is a huge, huge subject, and much could be said if there was more room…. suffice to say this movement started over a hundred years ago, and is still going strong. As with all art movements, there is/was a philosophy behind it, and its origin is varied.
The drive of the Expressionists was to break free from the expectations and rules imposed of current society, of current art definitions/expectations, to find their own sense of self, to discover their spirituality, hope, and promise amidst the chaos of mundane life. During this time, many things were happening in the world - earthquakes, World War I, Russian Revolution, World War II, nuclear discoveries, medical discoveries - the balance of good and evil, of friend and foe seemed dubious, indeed.
For those not familiar with this movement, examples of Expressionist work from art history include the works of Edvard Munch (known best for The Scream) and the later works of Cezanne, van Gogh and Matisse fall under this descriptive. Artists admired by the Expressionists include Matthias Grunewald (1475/80-1528) and El Greco (1541-1614) who were among the first to paint with passion and vision. Expressionism, as mentioned is very broad: it includes German Expressionism (Germany) and Abstract Expressionism (United States/New York), to name only a few.
Breaking from traditional realistic depiction The desire to break free from restrictions, from academia, from ties that bind, expectations and the norm with a return to the pure and true was the driving force behind the Expressionists. Expressionists were/are also linked to Romanticism: implicit in Romanticism were beliefs in the primacy of individual experience and in the irrational as well as the rational. According to Michael Clarke in a Concise Dictionary of Art Terms Expressionism was more an attitude of mind than a set of particular traits.
Before Expressionism, was Impressionism The largest movement just prior to Expressionism, was Impressionism. Impressionism is a fairly passive way of depicting form, a feminine/receptive approach. Its reliance is on light, and the play of light on a surface. It has an external, objective access for creation.
Expressionism on the other hand, requires internal access for creation all forms, colour, shapes, lines, values; all rely on the emotive state of the artist. It is all subjective to the artist’s existence, and a masculine/aggressive approach: imagination, philosophy, spirituality, a recognition of one’s darkness, one’s demons, and realization and celebration of the duality of this existence. Mark making, immediate striving and strife, heightened emotion, or visionary form punctuates the Expressionist’s work.
Emotional states, vivid colour, strong contrasts I have included some of my own work to give examples of this movement in contemporary art. My goal was to paint, to paint the essence, to paint with colour.
Many other contemporary artists join me in working in this vein, but it would be unfair to categorize and peg, as we don’t really like labels and pigeonholes. Simply put, Expressionism is an art form where the extreme emotional states of the artist are applied to a surface or medium. Demons, angst, the contradiction of the blackness of life and the promise of idealism: the focus is on the emotive, and the emoting, the emphasis is on the painting process rather than the tight containers depicted in realism. Kasimir Edschmid, a German Expressionist states “The Expressionist does not look, he sees." Expressionist artists are those who are interested in exploring, in discovering rather than imitating or reproducing what it is they see. Expressionists want to feel life and express life in/on their surface.
Distortions and abstractions Expressionists distort, and abstract forms. The rules of perspective, anatomy, and nature are bent and manipulated according to the artist’s will. Colours are chosen not on the basis of what the artist sees (also known as naturalism) but what they feel. Strong contrasts, angular planes, agitation, and the desire to separate art from always depicting the beautiful, the perfect - realizing the beauty and the sublime in the ugliness, and darkness are goals of the Expressionists. The lust for life, freedom from rules, the exotic, the primitive, the celebration of all facets of existence are driving forces behind the Expressionists.
No Rules! There are no rules to Expressionism. It is not a style, in my opinion, but a direction. The very idea of Expressionism is that it is non-conforming, and therefore, is outside of any imposed structure. Many, many books have been written on this subject, and it would be unfair to think that this 10,000 character essay would encapsulate the entire spectrum. Hopefully, this info gives a bit of an insight into my fellow Expressionist artists, but each artwork within the Expressionist realm is as different as each artist who painted it. For further reading, a fabulous book would be On the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky, published in 1911.