Expressionism.

Expressionism. THINGS TO LEARN * Expressionism was one of a number of art movements ''See Art periods for a chronological list.This is a list of art movements. These terms, helpful for curricula or anthologies, evolved over time to group artists who are often loosely related. that began inthe early 20th century. It appeared because artists rejected the fixedideas of Classical art (inherited from Greece and Rome), which no longerseemed to fit the kind of world that was unfolding. The roots ofExpressionism belong to the other great artistic tradition, Romanticism,with its emphasis on strong emotions. Expressionist artists were nottrying to reproduce what they could see but were trying to make theirfeelings visible. * The first modern Expressionist artists began working at thebeginning of the 20th century, and came mainly from Northern Europe.Some of their ideas were taken partly from the new study of humanemotions described by the Austrian pyschologist, Sigmund Freud. Theywere also influenced by the traditions of their northern homelands,where art often emphasized gloomy subjects and distorted figures. * Several important European Expressionist artists were EdvardMunch (Norway), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Noun 1. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - German expressionist painter (1880-1938)Kirchner (Germany), Wassily Kandinsky Noun 1. Wassily Kandinsky - Russian painter who was a pioneer of abstract art (1866-1944)Kandinski, Kandinsky, Wassily Kandinski (Russia), James Ensor James Ensor (April 13, 1860 - November 19 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for almost his entire life. He was associated with the artistic group Les XX. (Belgium), Paul Klee Noun 1. Paul Klee - Swiss painter influenced by Kandinsky (1879-1940)Klee (Switzerland), OskarKokoschka (Austria), and Max Beckmann (Germany). * Some of the great artists of the past whose ideas influencedmodern Expressionist painters were Mathis Grunewald (1470-1528),Hieronymus Bosch (1488-1515), Jan Brueghel (1568-1625) and Francisco deGoya (1746-1828). A more recent artist who was very influential wasVincent van Gogh (1853-1890). A group of French and Dutch artistsworking in France, whose brightly colored pictures were referred to asFauvism fauvism(fō`vĭzəm)[Fr. fauve=wild beast], name derisively hurled at and cheerfully adopted by a group of French painters, including Matisse, Rouault, Derain, Vlaminck, Friesz, Marquet, van Dongen, Braque, and Dufy. (the work of "wild beasts"), were working a few yearsbefore Expressionism began and were also influential. * Expressionism reached the United States just before World War I,but did not become well known until after the war was over. Many youngNorth American North Americannamed after North America.North American blastomycosissee North American blastomycosis.North American cattle ticksee boophilusannulatus. artists had studied in Europe before the war and severalof them became Expressionists. Among the better-known Americans are JohnBurchfield, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe and Marsden Hartley,together with Canadians Emily Carr and Loren Harris. The work of each of these artists was very individual, but theirwork was also different from Expressionist art created by Europeans,perhaps because Canadians and Americans did not have the same kinds ofhistories as people living in Europe. * Expressionist art usually includes recognizable objects, althoughmost of it is quite abstract. Color is usually important (although notin this painting) but correct perspective is not. While each artist hashis or her own individual style, with practice students will find thatExpressionist art is fairly easy to identify. THINGS TO DO * In order for students to develop a clear understanding ofExpressionism, they need to become familiar with as many examples aspossible. The first goal is to know what Expressionist art looks like.While all these artists share similar ideas and their pictures havenumbers of similarities, each artist's style is very different. Asecond goal is to see enough Expressionist art that students canidentify the individual styles of the better-known artists. * John Marin's pictures were almost all painted outdoors withthe scenes he liked right in front of him. Sometimes, however, hisoutdoor works were sources of ideas for pictures he painted later in hisstudio. Students may benefit from working outdoors if only to betterunderstand the problems faced by artists like Marin, such as thefrustration of not having brought all the necessary art materials and,perhaps more importantly, the challenge of deciding which view to paint. * Pictures in school usually start out by being carefully drawn andthen painted. Only rarely do students start work with a paintbrush (graphics, tool) Paintbrush - A Microsoft Windows tool for creating bitmap graphics. , andeven then they are likely to draw a few pencil lines before beginning.With Marin's painting as a model, students can discover a morespontaneous way of painting without concerning themselves first with theactual shapes they see in front of them. Their chances of success willalso be greater if they keep their paint thin and watery, just as thisartist did. * As students become familiar with the work of differentExpressionists, they are likely to find some styles that appeal to themmore than others. With their teacher's help, they can be encouragedto adopt a preferred style in their own paintings. To do this, they willfirst need to view as many examples by their chosen artist as they canand continue looking at them while they practice using that style. This kind of experience may help students begin to develop a styleof their own. If they do not like their first choice, there are manymore from which to choose. Even if their initial efforts areunsuccessful, they will still have reached a better understanding of theartist's work than if they had only looked at it. * Two useful ways of learning about art is to describe it andcompare it. Since European and North American Expressionist art isusually different, students may be asked to choose examples of work theylike by artists from both continents. The first step would be to listeverything they can see in each artwork and then describe all theirsimilarities and differences. Only then should they think of sayingwhich artworks they like best. * Students looking at the painting shown here will easily see thatit must have been painted quickly with little regard for mistakes. Marinpainted dozens of pictures of the subjects he liked, some of which heprobably threw away. Since paper is often in short supply in schools,students may not be able to use several sheets of paper for one picture.On the other hand, they can always make several smaller paintings on onesheet--and double that number by painting on both sides. They may thenkeep the most successful pictures by cuffing them out and mounting them. BUILDING A PICTURE FILE WITH THIS CLIP & SAVE ART PRINTREPRODUCTION This painting may be used both as an example ofExpressionism and various other art-teaching needs. Potentially usefulpicture-file categories include: "Expressionism";"American Expressionists: John Matin mat��in? also mat��in��aladj.Of or relating to matins or to the early part of the day.[Middle English, from Old French, sing. of matines, matins; see matins.] "; "WatercolorPainting"; "Spontaneous Brushwork brush��work?n.1. Work done with a brush.2. The manner in which a painter applies paint with a brush.brushworkNoun "; "Villages";and "Rain." For ideas about collecting and retrieving pictures to help inteaching art and other subjects, readers are invited to write to: GuyHubbard c/o Arts & Activities, 591 Camino de la Reina, Suite 200,San Diego, CA 92108.