Artists who are specifically skilled in this style and skill, are most usually associated with Germany and Norway (I will go into more detail on this matter later on). To add expression into a piece it can be achieved by tone, texture and bright vibrant colours or the two bold combination-black and white. The placing of facial features and composition play huge roles in creating an expressive design, along with introduction/reduction of interesting shapes.
The Expressionists
Within two main countries and the entire world of art, artists began to create images containing vivid strong expressionism. Many of these artists and their corresponding works-art are still admired and researched in this modern era, and this particular topic in art still lives on.
German expressionism originated in the atrocious trenches used in World war 1. Once the war had terminated and was won, large numbers of German soldiers were left traumatised and their minds in turmoil after such shocking events. These painful conflicts lead the Germans to despise the war commanders and when the Kaiser of that time period abdicated, the German citizens rose to support the November Revolution which was a policy to create a new Democratic Germany. Activists joined expressionist groups in order to help get the message across the politicians.
They encouraged artists, writers, poets’ architects and musical composers to join their group and help form a new society. However political opposition slowed down the building of the movement and later Nazi soldiers began to detain and execute many of these activists. During the German reign of faciasm, many of the expressionists were either killed or imprisoned. Along the war many wanted to show their hatred to the Nazi soldiers, so they did so by drawing pictures of all kind. However they slowly began to add great details and expression within the actual painting, with the addition of vibrant colours and strong tone and texture. Basically, the German expressionists used their expression talents and art skills to help change society beside huge odds.
Edward Munch
Edward Munch was the son of Christian Munch who was the brother of well-known historian, P. Munch. Edward grew up in Oslo (the capital of Norway) and was born in 1863 and died in the year 1944, although being born in the city of Loten. A young child, he was often ill and tragically saw the last remains of his family fade away. This offers a decent explanation to his bleak negative drawings. After a year at technical school, he became interested in art and studied nudist art at the Royal School of drawing, and was introduced to a few of Norway’s leading artists. In 1885 he went to on short study tour to Paris, in the same year that he painted the sick child. In 1889 he went yet again to Paris and held an exhibition of his work in Oslo (Christiana at that time).It was a few years later that he painted ‘The Scream’. This painting is the most famous painting in the entire work of Edward Munch, with high quality and level of expression. Within this painting is fear and death although the facial expression is largely created by the coulours and lines of the image.
This is one of the most fantastic pieced of art to be produced and is helped to gain such a level of success by the bright colours, facial features and original shapes. Munch then made many trips to Berlin and Norway where after an other deacade of traveling and painting he died at the age of 81in 1963. He is said to be the fore-father of expressionism in art and one of world’s greatest expressionist.
