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Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e. Chapter 35.1 The Development of Modernist Art: The Early 20 th Century. Colonial Empires About 1900. EXPRESSIONISM IN EARLY-20TH-CENTURY EUROPE.
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Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e Chapter 35.1 The Development of Modernist Art: The Early 20th Century
EXPRESSIONISM IN EARLY-20TH-CENTURY EUROPE • Expressionism refers to art that is the result of the artist's unique inner or personal vision and that often has an emotional dimension. • The Fauves movement, which appeared in 1905, pursued an art that was direct and anti-theoretical and also used intense, emotionally charged color juxtapositions. The Fauves wished to liberate color from its descriptive function and to use it for both expressive and structural ends.
The Art of the Fauves • An early twentieth century art movement and style of painting in France. The name Fauves, French for "Wild Beasts," was given to artists adhering to this style because it was felt that they used intense colors in a violent, uncontrolled way. The leader of the Fauves was Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) • Andre Derain(1880-1954) was one of the founding fathers of Fauvism, and one of its wildest practitioners. Influenced by van Gogh and working with Valminck in 1904 he felt that the impressionists had disintegrated their work into dots excessively. Instead, he chose to use wide, choppy brush strokes of pure color. In 1905, he worked with Matisse to bring the technique to maturity.
HENRI MATISSE, Red Room (Harmony in Red), 1908–1909. Oil on canvas, approx. 5’ 11” x 8’ 1”.
Henri Matisse - Woman with the Hat, Paris - 1904 There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. - Henri Matisse
ANDRÉ DERAIN, The Dance, 1906. Oil on canvas, 6’ 7/8” x 6’ 10 1/4”. Fridart Foundation, London.
The German Expressionists • Die Brucke (The Bridge): This group of expressionists gathered together in 1905 in Dresden, Germany. They often used angular distortions and color to suggest their aversion for modern, post-industrial society (Ernst Kirchner) or to convey their preference for a kind of primal innocence in nature (Otto Muller). They believed that their social criticism of the ugliness of modern life could act as a "bridge" to a new and better future. Hitler late would label these painters "decadent" and banned them from German art galleries. • Der Blaue Reiter was a German expressionist art movement, lasting from 1911 to 1914. It took its name from a painting by Kandinsky, Le cavalier bleu. Following the Brucke artists of the previous decade, this second wave of expressionism was led by Kandinsky, Klee, and Marc in Munich. Through the use of distorted forms and startling color, they sought to discover spiritual truths that they felt the impressionists had overlooked. Less united stylistically and as a group than the Brücke, their art ranged from the sometime pure abstractions of Kandinsky to the romantic imagery of Marc. In 1911, Kandinsky and Marc prepared a significant collection of articles and illustrations published as the “Blaue Reiter” Album. Common to the artists in the group was a philosophical spirit, an intellectual approach to technique, and great lyrical spontaneity.
Urban life in prewar Dresden:Kirchner's expressive Street, Dresden shows the frenzied urban activity of a bustling German city before the First World War. The scene is jarring and dissonant and the harshly rendered figures, painted in garish, clashing colors, appear somewhat menacing and confrontational. • Lust and lechery:Emil Nolde's visceral and forceful interpretation of Saint Mary of Egypt among Sinners uses distortions of form, jarringly juxtaposed color, and raw brushstrokes to amplify the harshness and brutal ugliness of the leering faces.
Blueprints for Enlightenment:Kandinsky was one of the first artists to explore complete abstraction. In Improvisation 28 he eliminated representational elements. Guided by his interest in theosophy and the spiritual, Kandinsky believed that artists can use color, form, line, and space to express the spirit and their innermost feelings. • Expressing an inner truth:Franz Marc painted animals using a system of colors expressing specific feelings or ideas. Animals' Fate is painted with severe and brutal colors.
Vassily Kandinsky, Yellow, Red, Blue, 1925; Oil on canvas The Russian-born artist, one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. After successful avant-garde exhibitions, he founded the influential Munich group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider; 1911-14) and began completely abstract painting. His forms evolved from fluid and organic to geometric and, finally, to pictographic.
