Expressionism?

August Macke "Lady in a Green Jacket" 1913

"Fighting Forms" by Franz Marc 1914

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20^th century. It was developed as an avant-garde style before the World War I (1914-1918) and remained popular during the Weimar Republic (name of federal republic and parliamentary representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany), particularly in Berlin. The style later on extended to a wide range of the arts, which includes painting, literature, theatre, dance, film, architecture and music.

A typical trait of expressionism art is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect  in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality. Its emphasis on individual perspective has been characterized as a reaction to positivism and other artistic styles such as naturalism and impressionism.

Expressionism is notoriously difficult to define, in part because it overlapped with other major art movements, ‘isms’, of the modernist period such as Futurism, Vorticism, Cubism, Surrealism and Dada. Despite that, expressionism has also been likened to Baroque by critics but according to Alberto Arbasino, an italian writer, a difference between the two is that, “Expressionism doesn't shun the violently unpleasant effect, while baroque does”.

Expressionist artists known mainly as painters, like Erich Heckel, also worked with sculpture.
One of few sculptors who used the Expressionist style is german Ernst Barlach, *click* who is also a printmaker and a writer.

Ernst Barlach 'Der Mann im stock', 1918

Ernst Barlach's "Frierende Alte" 1937

Many of Ernst's work has inspired me to create my previous work.

So, that's it!


Next serving will have a little something to do with the number 3.. let's leave the rest a mystery for y'all to guess. ;)

'Till then..

Love,

Salsa