Expressionists and Expressionism [antikvár]

^reface Since the late i 970s a new Expressionism has conne to the fore, represented by North American, Italian and German artists, a convulsive style of painting executed with vehement gestures, which has everywhere aroused a correspondingly forceful reaction of criticism and rejection. Reference to the German painters who between 1905 and 1923 worked under the aegis of Expressionism is evident in many pictures and can even be traced back to individual artists. Corinth and Nolde, Kokoschka and the Brücke painters, Dixand Grosz, are more or less directly quoted, as expressing the fears and anxieties of a generation. The public at large is prepared to accept expressionist pictures, sculptures and prints, once again confirming that we always tend to appraise the art of the past in terms of its connection with artistic problems of the present day. In approaching German art of the period 1905-1923, from the founding of the Brücke group to the end of the civil war and inflation, the art generally known as Expressionism, it is important to make an initial qualification. Expressionism is a loosely applied term, not susceptible of any strict definition. By no stretch of the imagination can it betaken to designate a style. There was no stylistic unity among the Expressionists, nor were they bound by any common aesthetic. No consistency is to be found in the means of expression they used. Of the Brücke painters it may be said that they practised a surface style based on pure luminous colours. They never renounced the object, though they had no qualms about distorting it as they stepped up their power of expression. The circle around Kandinsky in Munich, known as the Blue Rider group, also proceeded from pure colour. But the driving force behind Kandinsky's work, as also to a large extent behind that of his friends Jawlensky, Marc and Klee, was the desire to break away completely from the object. The pure