Neo Expressionism

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The term Expressionism became commonly used
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in Germany around 1910 to describe
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avant-garde art of the time.
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Expressionist art grew out of the work of Symbolist artists
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such as Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch
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and Vincent Van Gogh.
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Feelings were emphasised above all else:
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Expression over Impression
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Expressionism over Impressionism.
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Artists associated with Expressionism emerged in centres
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across Germany and Austria.
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In Dresden, a group of artists
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called themselves Die Br;cke
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or The Bridge
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seeing their art as the bridge into the future
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as they freed themselves of the constraints of tradition.
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a key member of The Bridge
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This early painting by him is highly decorative
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as well as expressive.
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The bold use of colour and exaggerated form
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express the exotic qualities of the subject
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A Japanese theatre group performing in Dresden
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something new and exotic, escaping from tradition.
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Emil Nolde, a member of The Bridge for a short while
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was a frequent visitor to the ethnographic museum in Berlin.
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This painting looks forward to his trip in 1914
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to the South Pacific.
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The heavy brush strokes, shadowy figure
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and use of deep red gives the viewer
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a sense of foreboding.
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Like Kirchner, Nolde was interested
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in trying to escape traditional artistic forms
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and in drawing inspiration from non-western culture.
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Another Expressionist group developed in Munich
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at the same time as The Bridge.
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This group, called Der Blaue Reiter, or The Blue Rider
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took its name from a painting by Wassily Kandinsky.
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The art of the group emphasized the spiritual over the earthbound.
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After the First World War a new wave of artists
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came to prominence, rejecting the outpouring
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of emotions of expressionist art
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and turned to a matter of fact depiction of the world.
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The new movement was known as New Objectivity.
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George Grosz, who was associated with New Objectivity
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claimed it revealed to the oppressed
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the true faces of their oppressors:
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ugly, corrupt.
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In time though Expressionists and Realists
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who did confront the brutality
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of the modern industrialized world
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would find themselves victims of it.
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Weimar Germany embraced avant-garde cinema,
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art, architecture, and theatre
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but this came to an abrupt end in 1933
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when Hitler's Nazi party came to power.
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The Nazis labelled modern art degenerate art
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Expressionists and other avant-garde art
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like New Objectivity was censored
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for not upholding what they saw as “German values”
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Once classified as degenerate
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many artists went into exile abroad
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Kirchner killed himself.
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Expressionists continued though,
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in a fragmented way to create emotive work.
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Their influence survived in later art movements
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like Abstract Expressionism
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and Neo Expressionism.
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After the Second World War,
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Expressionism was rediscovered
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and reclaimed in Germany as part of its true heritage.
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In the 1970’s and 1980’s in Germany
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several artists looked back
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at the expressionist forerunners
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and were themselves dubbed Neo Expressionists.
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Georg Baselitz was one such artist.
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Censorship and persecution couldn't stop
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the influence of these avant-garde artists.
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But if art is born from the human spirit,
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should we really be surprised?