Die Brücke Flashcards
What is Die Brücke called
The purest form of german expressionism
Background
Three young architectural students formed an association called Die Brücke in Dresden. They rented an old butcher’s shop and printed many publications of their ideas. They shared the same view on art and life, rather than specific aims. Every member was free to work according to his initiative. They moved to Berlin and the group dissolved on the eve of WWI.
Why did the three students choose the name “the bridge”
To link all revolutionary elements as well as Paris and Dresden
Who were the three young architectural students
Kirchner, Schmidt-Rottluff and Heckel
Who were some of the artists
Ernest Ludwig Kirchner Karl Schmidt-Rottloff Emil Nolde Erich Heckel Max Pechstein Otto Mueller
Themes
They criticised their social conditions.
The content of their work was more important than the formal elements
Art was very personal, portraying strong individual feelings
Angst-ridden art with underlying themes such as hate, jealousy, love …
Colour
Initially they used strong primary and secondary colours, but their colours later became more sombre and dark
The strong colour contrast portrayed conflicts in life. Harsh and strong colours such as yellow, red, black and green were used non-naturalistically
Shape
Emphasis on emotion led to simplified and distrorted shapes. Their work seems to be unfinished because of it.
Figures are unnaturally distorted, often tin and elongated
Shapes are often outlined with a strong dark colour
A gothic angularity with jagged shapes developed to express emotion
Often many figures were crowded. Space is unrealistic and diagonal lines often stretch from the foreground to the background.
Brushwork
Broad, free brushstrokes are created by emotion
Spontaneous works create a new “barbaric” beauty
Linear brushstrokes are evidence of the artist’s emotion
Paint is applied freely, thickly and roughly, as if in haste
Expressionism
Emphasis on expression of personal emotion make their best works powerful and lively. Poorer works seem t be unfinished and without shape. Members of die Brücke were interested in the gothic period of art history and deliberately tried to reproduce the atmosphere of the craftsman guild. They made woodcuts and, in painting, used harsh, angular lines produced in woodcuts.
Kirchner
Painter, printmaker and one of the founding members of Die Brücke. His brief experience of fighting in WWI led to a nervous breakdown and he spent the next few years in sanatoria and clinics. He later moved and continued to paint and battle extreme depression. Like many other expressionists of that time, his art was entered in the Nazi Exhibition of degenerate art. 500 of his artworks were destroyed which caused him further depression. He eventually killed himself
