German Expressionist Woodcuts (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)

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Many artists were important figures throughout the development of German Expressionism, however, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc, and Wassily Kandinsky were instrumental Expressionist artists.

Shi zhu zhai shu hua pu, or, Ten Bamboo Studio collection of calligraphy and painting". Cambridge Digital Library . Retrieved 11 August 2015. Many critics see a direct tie between cinema and architecture of the time, stating that the sets and scene artwork of Expressionist films often reveal buildings of sharp angles, great heights, and crowded environments, such as the frequently shown Tower of Babel in Fritz Lang's Metropolis. [14] International audiences and appreciation for German cinema began to grow as anti-German sentiment decreased following the end of World War I. By the time its 1916 ban on imports on foreign film was lifted, Germany had become a part of the international film industry. [3] Painting was the dominant medium of the genre, and the resulting works represented epitomize the principles of the German Expressionist movement today. Sculpture, architecture, and film also played important roles. Beyond the visual arts, it transcended many industries and disciplines, including literature, music, theater, and even economics. Works from the movement have sustained popularity to this day, and though the genre’s active years were relatively brief, German Expressionism has remained an influential movement for artists and patrons alike. A Brief History of German Expressionism Art today is moving in directions of which our forebears had no inkling. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are heard galloping through the air,” Marc wrote of this heady moment in his 1912 Der Blaue Reiter manifesto. “Artistic excitement can be felt all over Europe—new artists are signalling to one another from all sides.”This film existed as another prominent film within German Expressionist Cinema and was directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1927. This is considered one of the most well-known silent films to come out of this era and depicts a society utterly divided by class and wealth. Metropolis tells the story of a dystopian future, where the wealthy ruling class exists in the upper city, and the poor working-class exist below ground. In both Europe and East Asia in the early 20th century, some artists began to do the whole process themselves. In Japan, this movement was called sōsaku-hanga ( 創作版画, creative prints), as opposed to shin-hanga ( 新版画, new prints), a movement that retained traditional methods. In the West, many artists used the easier technique of linocut instead. Strong elements of monumentalism and Modernism appear throughout the canon of German Expressionism. An excellent example of this is Metropolis, as evidenced by the enormous power plant and glimpses of the massive yet pristine "upper" city.

Paret, Peter. An Artist Against the Third Reich: Ernst Barlach, 1933–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Printmaking in Italy was far behind France and Germany. The Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni made a few interesting etchings and the Cubist Gino Severini published a number of rather manneristic etchings and colour lithographs, but neither could be considered important printmakers. Giorgio Morandi is the only major Italian printmaker of this period. His intimate, delicate still-life and landscape etchings occupy a very special position in contemporary graphic art. Today, in Mexico the activist woodcut tradition is still alive. In Oaxaca, a collective called the Asamblea De Artistas Revolucionarios De Oaxaca (ASARO) was formed during the 2006 Oaxaca protests. They are committed to social change through woodcut art. [23] Their prints are made into wheat-paste posters which are secretly put up around the city. [24] Artermio Rodriguez is another artist who lives in Tacambaro, Michoacán who makes politically charged woodcut prints about contemporary issues. [1] Famous works in woodcut [ edit ] Michaela Rethmeier: Die Funktion und Bedeutung Fritz Hipplers für das Filmschaffen im "Dritten Reich". p. 67 (dissertation, University of Münster, 2006) a b Hind, Arthur M. (1963). An Introduction to a History of Woodcut. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1935 (in USA), reprinted Dover Publications, 1963. pp.64–94. ISBN 978-0-486-20952-4.Mexico at this time was trying to discover its identity and develop itself as a unified nation. The form and style of woodcut aesthetic allowed a diverse range of topics and visual culture to look unified. Traditional, folk images and avant-garde, modern images, shared a similar aesthetic when it was engraved into wood. An image of the countryside and a traditional farmer appeared similar to the image of a city. [20] This symbolism was beneficial for politicians who wanted a unified nation. The physical actions of carving and printing woodcuts also supported the values many held about manual labour and supporting workers' rights. [20] Current woodcut practices in Mexico [ edit ] Werner Herzog's 1979 film Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht was a tribute to F. W. Murnau's 1922 film. The film uses expressionist techniques of highly symbolic acting and symbolic events to tell its story. [9] The 1998 film Dark City used stark contrast, rigid movements, and fantastic elements. [10] [11]

a b c d Azuela, Alicia (1993). "El Machete and Frente a Frente: Art Committed to Social Justice in Mexico". Art Journal. 52 (1): 82–87. doi: 10.2307/777306. ISSN 0004-3249. JSTOR 777306. This is why woodcuts are sometimes described by museums or books as "designed by" rather than "by" an artist; but most authorities do not use this distinction. The division of labour had the advantage that a trained artist could adapt to the medium relatively easily, without needing to learn the use of woodworking tools. Bartrum, Giulia; German Renaissance Prints, 1490–1550; British Museum Press, 1995, ISBN 0-7141-2604-7Hung, Chang-Tai (1997). "Two images of Socialism: Woodcuts in Chinese Communist Politics". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 39 (1): 34–60. JSTOR 179238. Deffke Billboard (2016) by Jay Gard, Signale der Moderne, Bauhaus Dessau; Jay Gard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1912, Kandinsky and Marc went on to release a collection of essays on art, which became known as the Almanach Der Blaue Reiter. The aim of this was to introduce some spiritual value to art pieces, with color being used as their main technique. The translation of the name into English means “The Blue Rider”, which held significance for both Kandinsky and Marc. German silent cinema was arguably far ahead of Hollywood during the same period. [8] Cinema outside Germany benefited both from the emigration of German film makers and from German expressionist developments in style and technique that were apparent on the screen. The new look and techniques impressed other contemporary film makers, artists and cinematographers, and they began to incorporate the new style into their work. In 1921, Jean Charlot, a French printmaker moved to Mexico City. Recognizing the importance of Posada's woodcut engravings, he started teaching woodcut techniques in Coyoacán's open-air art schools. Many young Mexican artists attended these lessons including the Fernando Leal. [17] [18] [20]In the United States, after the turn of the 20th century, most of the prominent painters became fairly active printmakers: George Wesley Bellows, in lithography; John Sloan and Reginald Marsh, in etching; Milton Avery, in drypoint and a large number of monoprints; and Stuart Davis, in colour lithography. Among these painter-printmakers, two artists are particularly notable: Edward Hopper, whose few etchings are very personal and of unusually high quality; and Ben Shahn, an extremely prolific printmaker, who left an impressive graphic oeuvre in practically every medium. Of the subsequent generation of established painter-printmakers, only a few were creatively involved in the process, while the rest let the commercial printer take over. a b c d e Montgomery, Harper (December 2011). " "Enter for Free": Exhibiting Woodcuts on a Street Corner in Mexico City". Art Journal. 70 (4): 26–39. doi: 10.1080/00043249.2011.10791070. ISSN 0004-3249. S2CID 191506425. ASARO—Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca | Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art". jsma.uoregon.edu . Retrieved 24 March 2019. Used printmaking as a means for radically simplifying and flattening compositions. Made more than one thousand prints over career, almost three-quarters between 1903 and 1923; most were self-printed in small editions, although after 1910 collaborated on occasion with Berlin-based publishers, including Paul Cassirer, Fritz Gurlitt, and J. B. Neumann. Reprinted some early woodcuts in 1950s. In Europe, woodcut is the oldest technique used for old master prints, developing about 1400, by using, on paper, existing techniques for printing. One of the more ancient woodcuts on paper that can be seen today is The Fire Madonna ( Madonna del Fuoco, in the Italian language), in the Cathedral of Forlì, in Italy.