Expressionist (1912-1963 CE)

Question 1

Improvisation 28

Answer 1

Completely abstract
Synesthesia
Doesn’t represent anything besides line and color
“Child’s eye view” of the world
Theosophy (the world will end and lead to 1000 years of happiness)
His paintings are meant to speed up this process
Couple embracing
Waves
Horseback riders

Question 2

Improvisation 28 IDs

Answer 2

Vassily Kandinsky
1912 CE
Expressionist
Oil on canvas

Question 3

Self-portrait as a soldier

Answer 3

De Brucke
No subtlety
Metaphorical autobiography
Reveals pathological fear of war as an artist and a human being
Kirchner in his studio (empty eyes, dangling cigarette)
Nude model behind him
Unfinished painting
Wearing army uniform (not on battlefield)
Amputated hand (metaphor for the loss of his ability to paint and be creative)
Represents psychological trauma

Question 4

Self-portrait as a soldier IDs

Answer 4

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
1915 CE
Expressionist
Oil on canvas

Question 5

Memorial Sheet for Karl Liebknecht

Answer 5

Protest against war
Stark contrasts and sharp lines
Karl Liebknecht was killed in an uprising and was a good Communist speaker
Simple forms and boldness that evoked more feelings
Horizontal vs. vertical composition
Communicates loss and grief
References the Rottgen Pieta (Liebknecht is Christ)
Loses any sense that Liebknecht is there (the impact of what he did, the grievers, is the focus)
Generational (women and children)
Sad and hopeful

Question 6

Memorial Sheet for Karl Liebknecht IDs

Answer 6

Käthe Kollwitz
1919-1920 CE
Expressionist
Woodcut

Question 7

Expressionism

Answer 7

Expressive
Bold colors (inspired by Fauvism)
Wrenching distortions of form and outline
Anxious/agitated brush work
Die Brucke (the bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (the blue rider)
Response to WWI unfavorably (specifically the wealth gap)

Question 8

Woman, I

Answer 8

Flattened and forced into the shadow of the composition
Female archetype (female goddesses, pinup girls, Medusa-like look, etc.)
Represents what we admire and what we fear about femininity

Question 9

Woman, I IDs

Answer 9

Willem de Kooning
1950-1952 CE
Expressionist
Oil on canvas

Question 10

The Bay

Answer 10

Diluted acrylic paint on raw, cotton duck canvas
Uses sponges/clothes to wipe it down
Paint soaks into the canvas and the white comes through (radiates the color like stained-glass) with is juxtaposed with denser colored areas

Question 11

The Bay IDs

Answer 11

Helen Frankenthaler
1963 CE
Expressionist
Acrylic on canvas