German Expressionism Flashcards
Degenerate Art
Entartete: german for “degenerate” (corrupt, mental issue that makes them unhealthy and ‘unwholesome’ lack of morals)
-Hitler and the nazi’s wanted to promote a “idealistic” human form especially in art, any other art would be considered “degenerate”
Hitler and the nazi’s wanted to promote a “idealistic” human form especially in art, any other art would be considered “degenerate”
no jewish art was allowed as well
art was taken by hitlers regime and destroyed and a lot of artists were not allowed to work anymore
german people were not allowed to view ‘degenerate’ art
All modern art styles were prohibited
depraved subject matter, anything that showed weakness
“Kunst” exhibition of 1937
Kunst: german for ‘art’, a show put on by ‘degenerate’ artists ** add more to this slide
Expressionism
a move gestural expressive style, an all german style of art,
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall 1887 - 1985
one of the very few very celebrated aritsts living in germany before WW2
russian born
not really german expressionist
incredibly well celebrated before WW2
in love with a woman named bella, but bella’s parents wouldnt allow marriage without marc’s success
he moved to germany to become a sucessful artist, and then returned and married bella
during WW2, they were living in paris but was unaware of the atrocities of the war
their daughter pressed on about how they needed to get out, but it was almost too late, but their daughter was able to connect with artists and gallery owners in the states and they were able to get out
he was a celebrated artist in the US
Bella passed away but he continued to paint her
Die Brucke (The Bridge)
Group of artists that wanted to crate a style of art that bridged the gap between old styles of art (wood cut prints) and a move gestural expressive style, an all german style of art,
Emil Nolde
Emil Nolde 1867 - 1956
German Expressionist
he was in Die Brucke, but didnt
one of the great painters of the 20th century, very german expressionist
very proud artist, nazi sympathizer, anti semetic
very celebrated as a german artist, was making a good living as an artist
very interested in the work of Van Gogh
Lots of paintings of flowers
trained as a craftsman, word working, went to fine arts school
painted very religious themes, but in an expressive way so not very realistic
when the nazi regime took over, 1052 of his paintings were destroyed (more than anyone else) he was told he was not allowed to paint anymore
he coulden’t give up his art, so he changed his medium from oil paints to watercolors and said he was creating “unpaintings” and hid all of his paintings
survived the war, received the german order of merit
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner(1880-1938) academically trained ** A founding member of Die Brucke
enlisted in WW1 but was discharged because he had a mental break during the war, this felt like a failure to germany
alcoholic, opiate drugs, casual sex etc, substance abuse problems, sufferd from depression
bright colours, expressive brushwork, planes of light and shadow indicated by a different colour rather than a shift in the same colour
lots of street scences with the bugiouses, sharp angularly pointy
had a studio that they would throw ‘art parties’ where all the friends would
Erna
mentally crippled by the war, his self portraits depicted himself as ‘usless’, would use sickly colours
He was a proud artist, he loved his country
commited suicide as a result of his government telling him he was not considered a german, his art ‘was not’ german.
Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)
the blue rider group wrote lots of essays on art **add more
Franz Marc
Franz Marc, A founder of the Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider)
didn’t survive to WW2
the blue rider group wrote lots of essays on art
very interested in symbolism: blue meant spirituality, different colours carried different symbolic powers and emotion
very bright, very colourful canvases
painted a lot of animals
very prominent artists
enlisted in WW1, but he was assigned to paint camouflage for the war, he’d tried out different painting styles
he was taken from the front line (seeing as he was a very prominent artist)
was killed in WW1, so all of his work as predated the end of WW1
was influenced by Kandinsky (abstract)
*Kandinksy
russian born artist, the first person to paint an entirely abstract composition, would listen to music and react to them on canvas ** first abstract painter
avant-garde
“the front gaurd” first line of defense, broke through enime lines, french art took is as artists whole push the accepted norms breaking a trend, breaking new ground
