EXPRESSIONISM
Expressionism is an movement of art in 20th century which the artist reflect his inner world to his art instead of representing the nature as it is. The movement emerged in germany as a reaction to the attitude of naturalists who copy the nature and impressionists which depend on the external world. Expressionism was seen in the painting art; then it spread to the literature.The aim of the expressionist art is that the artist express his emotions and inner world by the use of colour, line, plane and mass. To reflect this emotions better, the artist uses the method of distorting shape of reality by breaking the tradition and this is based on the artist's personal emotions.
EXPRESSIONIST PAINTING
Expressionist painting aims at showing the artist's emotional world with the help of distorted lines, shapes and exaggerated colours.
When interpreting a n expressionist work of art, it should be paid attention to the use of lines and colours. Sharp lines and shades of red represent the anger while curves and shades of blue lay stress on sense of calm.
Edward Munsch, Kirchner, James Ensor and Oscar Kokoschka are important representatives in expressionist painting.
James Ensor(1860-1949) Belgian Expressionist Painter
Oskar Kokoschka
EXPRESSIONIST MUSIC
Expressionist music is one of the most important musical movement in twentieth century as a music genre and it is stated that it is too hard to define this movement exactly.
Compositor Arnold Schoenberg and his students Anton Webern and Alban Berg composed musical works which they called as 'expressionist'. They tried to express the feel of subconscious and suffering with dissonant and atonalite. Schoenberg's Erwartung and Die Glückliche Hand, Alban Berg's Wozzeck (opera) are the best examples of expressionist music.
EXPRESSIONIST ARCHITECTURE
Expressionist architecture show its effect between the years 1910 and 1930 especially in Germany. Key features of expressionism in architecture are distorted shapes, fragmented lines, organic or biomorphic forms, massive sculpted shapes, extensive use of concrete and brick, lack of symmetry and many fanciful works rendered on paper but never built. In addition to these, while eliminating the right angle is considered as main technique, the aim of gathering the functionality and form together by the use of uncommon forms and new materials made up the original dynamics of expressionist architecture.
It can be said that the first expressionist architecture is P.Behrens. His structures which he built for AEG in Berlin in the years between 1908-1913 are considered the begining works of movement. Later, architectures like Hans Poelzig and Erich Mendelsohn chose this movement, too. Glass House, which Bruno Taut designed for the Werkbund exhibition in Köln in 1914 and Erich Mendelson's Einstein Tower in Potsdam, which completed in 1921 and interrior decoration of "Grosse Schauspielhaus" theatre, which Hans Poelzig prepared for the theatre's director in Berlin are significant and classical examples of expressionism. In 1920s, Expressionism spread into Holland and M. de Klerk is an important artist in this direction by applying expressionism on dwelling in Holland.
In 1933, when nazi's governance took the control 5 years later, the expressionism disappeared. After the World War II, it revived with a brutal view. The stress which arose because of most expressionist artists' participation to the war was a factor in recurrence of expressionism. In 1970s, post-modern architecture leaded to expressionism's leaking out.
The pioneers of the expressionist architecture are:
ERICH MENDELSOHN
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a Jewish German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinemas.
The Einstein Institute of Astrophysics at Potsdam
"The supreme masterpiece of architectural expressionism, one of the most heretical and revolutionary works in history, the Einsteinstrum is a rigorously functional structure. It united a domed observatory with an underground laboratory for research on spectrographic phenomena connected to the theory of relativity. The western elevation (the picture above), the foundation area around the entrance and the facade show a volumetric ground plan which is completely anomalous compared to traditional codes."
RUDOLPH STEINER
His strong expressionist designs are for the second Goetheanum (house of speech) and surrounding buildings. Steiner designed 17 buildings, including the First and Second Goetheanums. These two buildings, built in Dornach, Switzerland, were intended to house significant theater spaces as well as a School for Spiritual Science. Three of Steiner's buildings have been listed amongst the most significant works of modern architecture.
His primary sculptural work is The Representative of Humanity (1922), a nine-meter high wood sculpture executed as a joint project with the sculptor Edith Maryon and now on permanent display at the Goetheanum.
Steiner's blackboard drawings were unique at the time and almost certainly not originally intended as art works. Josef Beuys' work, itself heavily influenced by Steiner, has led to the modern understanding of Steiner's drawings as artistic objects.
The First Goetheanum
HANS POELZİG
With his Weimar architect contemporaries like Bruno Taut and Ernst May, Poelzig's work developed through Expressionism and the New Objectivity in the mid-1920s before arriving at a more conventional, economical style. In 1927 he was one of the exhibitors in the first International Style project, the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart. In the 1920s he ran the "Studio Poelzig" in partnershp with his wife Marlene (Nee Moeschke) (1894–1985). Poelzig also designed the 1929 Broadcasting House in the Berlin suburb of Charlottenburg, a landmark of architecture, and Cold War and engineering history.
Poelzig's single best-known building is the enormous and legendary I.G. Farben Building, completed in 1931 as the administration building for IG Farben in Frankfurt am Main, now known as the Poelzig Building at Goethe University. In March 1945 the building was occupied by American Allied forces under Eisenhower, became his headquarters, and remained in American hands until 1995. Some of his designs that were never built included one for the Palace of the Soviets and one for the League of Nations headquarters at Geneva.
Poelzig died in Berlin in June 1936, shortly before his planned departure for Ankara.
REFERENCES
Erich mendelsohn the complete Works by Bruno Zevi
