Expressionism, movement in the arts emphasizing subjective feelings and emotions, which developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a reaction against academic standards that had prevailed in Europe since the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century). The subjects of expressionist works were frequently exaggerated, distorted, or otherwise altered.

The term expressionism was first applied to painting in 1911 but the movement's tenets were earlier exemplified by 19th-century artists, especially Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, French artist Paul Gauguin, and Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, all of whom used violent colors and exaggerated lines to obtain intense emotional expression. The most important expressionist group was the German school, originated by a Dresden group called Die Brücke, which included painters Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, and Otto Müller. Another group, in Munich, called Der Blaue Reiter, included German painters Franz Marc, August Macke, and Heinrich Campendonk; Swiss artist Paul Klee; and Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Other expressionists included Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka, French artist Georges Rouault, Lithuanian-born French painter Chaïm Soutine, Bulgarian-born French painter Jules Pascin, and American painter Max Weber (see Modern Art and Architecture). Another more cynical phase of German expressionism called Die Neue Sachlichkeit (The New Objectivity) was founded by Otto Dix and George Grosz.

The average Expressionists believed that every part of man's personality and being is in essence, a form of expression. To them, everything was an expression; eating, sleeping, and without a doubt, painting. The Expressionists felt persuaded by art. They believed that art was a chief means of expression between one person to another-in this case, the artists and the spectator. Like the Cubists, Expressionists felt the most important facet in a painting was the subject matter. Subject matter was the center of an emotional charge to be felt by the artist and the spectator.

The Expressionists believed that as long as the emotional surge between the artist and spectator took place, the subject matter had little importance. Expressionism stipulated that above all, an emotional expression needed to take place. Unlike most artists from other movements who often emphasized the subject matter, but the Expressionists discovered that the subject matter could be abandoned all together. If the artist used rich deep colors accompanied by large definite brushstrokes, then the painting could altogether exist as a free entity.

While the above is a basic understanding of the Expressionists' beliefs, it's also important to mention that many artists had individual styles of their own. Two distinct groups emerged out of the Expressionist movement. They include the Die Brucke group, and the group Der Blaue Reiter. The first group was founded in 1912 and found inspiration in medieval German sculpture. They appreciated sculpture from Africa, as well as oceanic sculpture. Like the Fauvists, they found inspiration in a primitive form, but did not focus on naturalism, but primitivism. In addition, like the Fauves, they had no "theories". They did however aim clearly to show that nature was an obsolete form to portray, and they hoped that others would join and support their anti-nature campaign.

The second group of Expressionists called themselves Der Blaue Reiter. They were painters mainly from Munich, Germany. The members in this group were more spiritually inclined than the Die Brucke group; they had a close tie with theosophy. By connecting some psychological meaning, and some color thematics, the group hoped to combine art with the human spirit. They believed that given the right human spirit, art can represent reality, and reality can represent art.

In order to better analyze the Expressionists "theory", the following quote explains a personal statement of how their art is typified.

"This is what I saw, imagined, experienced; this is how it was for me; this is how I felt about it. I, the artist, offer you this experience because as artist I am sensitized to a special degree and devote my life to this thin-skinned experience and to finding ways of capturing it to you, my public. I am one, unique through a part of mankind. You are many; most of your time, your education and your work, if not leisure too, is designed to restrain you experience, to thicken your skin. How shall I address you? Not through the conventions of European art, worn smooth with endless use; they no longer connect with life and do not permit me to set down my personal apprehension of it. Strong colors, emphatic rather than then accurate representation and especially distortion in my delineation of figures will catch your attention but may also numb your responses by making too strong an assault. I handle these colors daily and they don't bother me; the drawing that strikes you as incompetent is how I want it. Yet can you learn to read it, respond to it, especially since I have to adapt my manner continually to changes in my situation and myself? I want you to use my art, to counter with it the deadening weight of urban life. Indeed my insistence on self-centered art is only justified if it helps you to discover your true self, but, in order to reveal myself, I have had to abandon what shared visual language there was as a link between us. "

Expressionist Architecture

As with Expressionist painting Expressionist architecture developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries out of the same social tensions that led to the First World War. Expressionism flourished most strongly in the German speaking parts of Europe. According to Pehnt Expressionism died away at the end of world war one as it was idewntified with the same dark subconscious forces that led to the war itself. However this position denies the later development of major expressionist works by, for example Hans Scharoun and the continuing Expressionist work of architects like Gottfried and Domenikus Böhm. Three major German architects of the period associated with the expressionist movement were Bruno Taut, Hans Scharoun and Erich Mendelsohn, the latter chiefly for his early drawings and the iconic Einstein Tower.

Architect Bruno Taut

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Biography

(b. Konigsberg, Germany 1880; d. Istanbul, Turkey 1938)

Bruno Taut was born in Konigsberg, Germany in 1880. He trained in Konigsberg and Berlin-Charlottenburg before he joined Theodor Fischer's office in Stuttgart. He opened his own office in Berlin in 1910 where he maintained a busy practice until the advent of the First World War. After the war, Taut's theories and designs marked him as a leader in architectural innovation. In 1918 he accepted chairmanship of the Arbeitstrat fur Kunst. A year later he published drawings depicting a visionary Utopia under the title Alpine Architektur.

In 1920 Taut issued his Expressionist supplement Fruhlicht as as part of a Berlin planning magazine. The next year, after he accepted a position as city architect for Berlin, Taut published a "Glass Chain" publication. In 1923 he returned to Berlin where he worked in partnership with Franz Hoffman and his brother Max Taut. He produced his book Modern Architecture in 1930 for the Studio Press.

In the late 1920s Taut gained recognition as a leader of the 'New Objective' architecture. He left Germany for the USSR in 1932. A year later he moved to Japan where he stayed until 1936. Taut died in Istanbul in 1938.

Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p151.

Architect Hans Scharoun

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Biography

(b. Bremen, Germany 1893; d. Berlin, Germany 1972)

Hans Scharoun was born in Bremen, Germany in 1893. He studied architecture in Berlin and after World War I helped reconstruct East Prussia. He joined Bruno Taut's Expressionist circle and contributed to the 'Glass Chain' correspondence. His lifelong commitment to socialism dates from this time.

Although Scharoun remained active in architecture circles, he did not build until late in the decade because of the economic depression following the war. The designs from this period exhibit the development of dynamic interior spaces which characterized his later work.

During World War II Scharoun remained in Germany where he participated in Haring's art school Kunst und Werk. In 1955 he helped re-established the Berlin Arts Academy. Although he won many competitions in this time, few of his designs were actually built.

In 1963 Scharoun built his first major building, the Philharmonie in Berlin. Because of this building, he gained a wave of new commissions. In most of his later works, Scharoun displayed an aggressive articulation of parts. He felt the parts of a building had to be like 'individuals in a democracy' who contribute to the whole while retaining their own identities.

Scharoun died in Berlin in 1972.

Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p135-136.

Architect Erich Mendelsohn

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Biography

(b. Allenstein, East Prussia 1887; d. San Francisco, California 1953)

Erich Mendelsohn was born in Allenstein, East Prussia (now Poland) in 1887. He studied in Berlin and Munich where he became involved with Expressionism. These early experiences generated a personal philosophy of "Dynamism" that demonstrated an attitude that was both expressionistic and personal in nature.

Mendelsohn used no historical precedents in formulating his designs. As a result, his early buildings avoid the eclectic borrowing that mark so many of his contemporaries. Indeed, his architectural ideas were derived from expressionistic sketches and romantic symbolism which recognized that the qualities of modern building materials should dictate a new architecture. In later designs, Mendehlson moved away from his earlier expressionist architecture, designing a series of buildings in a more linear fashion.

In 1933, Mendehlson fled from Nazi Germany to England where he gained citizenship. He acted as a design partner with Serge Chermayeff until 1939 when he moved to Palestine. In 1941 he moved to the U.S. where he established a successful general practice. While practicing, he lectured to students and wrote articles for newspapers and magazines.

Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p106-107.

 

Dutch Expressionist Architecture

The Dutch expressionists, known as the Amsterdam School, had as their theoretical vehicle the journal "Vendingen" [The Turning] and worked mainly in brick.

The major figure in Dutch Expressionist architecture was Michel de Klerk.

Architect Michel de Klerk

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Biography

(b. Amsterdam, Netherlands 1884; d. Amsterdam 1934)

Michel de Klerk was born in Amsterdam in 1884. He trained as an architect in the office of Eduard Cuypers from 1898 to 1910. From 1913 to 1923 he was involved with the "expressionistic" Amsterdam School. Although he resolutely refused to act as leader of the School, his contemporaries acknowledged his pre-eminent position.

Like most Dutch architects of his time he was influenced by H.P. Berlage. In addition, he had a personal interest in the the English Arts & Crafts Movement. Reflecting influences of both the Amsterdam School and the "Arts & Crafts" movement, De Klerk's architecture contained impressionistic elements and artistic craftsmanship of the highest order.

De Klerk died in Amsterdam in 1939.

Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p88

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