EXPRESSIONISM 1901-1927

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EXPRESSIONISM1901-1927
Daniel Sobol
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Expressionism Overview

• Political and Social Context
• What is Expressionism?
• Expressionism in Art and Film Noir
• Expressionism in Theater
• Franz Kafka

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World War One, The Great War

• World War One consisted of two stages
• conventional warfare from 1914-1916
• War of desperate expedients, as both sides
  struggled for their own existences

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World War One- Whos Involved

• The Allied Powers
• France
• Great Britain
• Russia
• United States

• Central Powers
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Turkey/Ottoman Empire

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Germany in World War One

• On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, the
  Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, is
  assisinated
• Germany allies with Austria-Hungary
• On August 3rd, 1914, Germany delcares war against
  France, and German soldiers invade Belgium,
  seizing towards France
• By August 27th, Germany sends forces to the
  eastern front

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Germany in World War One

• The Trench is built on the western front- the
  battle in the west becomes a war of attrition
• Forces on the eastern front trapped by Russian
  forces
• May 31, 1916, the U.S. enters the War, after
  having ships attacked and sunk by the German navy

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Germany is defeated

• March- September, 1918 The Allies surge Germany
  and push them back from the western front
• Germany has lost 1,000,000 soldiers, leaving them
  with an army of 2.5 million
• The German army is down 191 divisions to the
  400-500 of the Allies
• Bulgaria (Germanys ally) is defeated in late
  September
• German army is defeated

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Impact of World War One on Germany

• Throughout the war, Germans had been led to
  believe by government propaganda that they were
  winning the war
• Germany literally being starved of food due to
  Britains blockade of Northern ports
• Germanys leader- William II, forced to abdicate
• The Social Democratic Party comes into power, led
  by Friedrich Ebert
• SDP announces that Germany is now a republic

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More Effects of the War on Germany

• Ebert completely unable to control Berlin,
  establishes the Weimar Republic
• Soldiers returned from war still armed, blaming
  the government (although it was not Eberts fault
  that Germany had lost the war)
• 2 million soldiers killed. Because these
  soldiers had been Germanys workforce, the
  countrys economic situation plummeted

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In SummationWorld War One resulted for Germany
in

• Economic disaster
• Loss of manpower
• Complete disrespect for the government
• Thousands of armed, disillusioned soldiers
  roaming streets
• A civilian population devastated and traumatized
  by the impact of war
• A political revolution, transforming the nation
  into a republic led by an unpopular and opposed
  government

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Women in the early 20th Century Germany

• For centuries, women in Germany are considered
  inferior to men
• The Weimar Republic in 1919 gives women new
  freedoms and privileges, including
• Emphasis on secondary education
• The right to vote
• This small progress towards equality ends in 1933
  when Adolph Hitler comes to power

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Womens Fashion in Berlin, 1912-1916
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ToExpressionism!

• Expressionism is a term that was first coined in
  1901 to distinguish paintings done by
  neo-impressionists who tried to capture the
  appearance of objects under a particular light
  and moment
• Expressionism in painting emphasizes strong inner
  feelings about an object
• Portrays life as modified, twisted, and distorted
  by the artists personal perception of reality
• Does not try to imitate reality, but transform it.

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So what is expressionism?

• Expressionism seeks to discover and examine the
  essence of life, the internal, eternal meanings
  of facts, objects, and people.
• Expressionism seeks to find a deeper reality than
  on the surface
• Expressionism is not sight it is vision

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Expression in Visual Arts Starry Night, Vincent
Van Gogh 1889
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Madonna- Edvard Munch, 1894
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The Tempest- Oscar Kokoschka,1914
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The Scream- Edvard Munch,1893
This painting in often interpreted as
an EXPRESSION of Munchs personal torment and
mental illness.
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Expressionism and Film Noir

• German Expressionism sprung a small, distinct
  period of filmmaking, which included stylized
  representations of reality
• The soul in anguish
• Exaggerated shadowing, high-contrast lighting,
  skewed sets, and off-kilter camera angles
  visualize psychological states.
• The Cabinet of Dr. Cilgari, 1919- First attempt
  to create expressionist film

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The Cabinet of Dr. Cilgari
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Expressionism in Theater!

• 1910- Expressionism introduced in Germany
• An anthropomorphic view of existence,
  expressionism projected human views and emotions
  into inanimate objects.
• Expressionists sought truth in human spirituality
  rather than in external appearances

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• Expressionists rejected realism, believing that
  it focused only on the surface of life, implying
  a fixed and materialistic nature of society, not
  the real truths of the universe.

• Expressionists believed that external reality is
  malleable,
• and should be changed until it is in harmony
  with human
• spirituality, the only significant truth

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• Expressionists viewed the society in which they
  lived as one which mechanized and distorted the
  human spirit, preventing the attainment of truth
  and happiness
• Some expressionist dramatists, thus, took this
  militant view into their art and sought to
  transform social and political conditions and
  effect change.

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Expressionist Technique

• Expressionist Truth was subjective
• New artistic means were needed in order to
  express these new perspectives and bring
  audiences beyond the surface
• Distorted line
• Exaggerated shape
• Mechanical stage movement and body language
• Abnormal coloring of set and lighting

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Expressionism Through the Protagonists eyes
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• Often expressionist plays were shown through the
  perspective of the protagonist
• Seeing a piece of theater through the eyes of the
  protagonist alters emphasis and imposes dramatic
  interpretations on the event, story, character,
  and thus the audiences perception of the piece.

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Thematic and Structural Elements of Expressionist
Plays

• Generally Episodic
• A central idea creating unity in a piece, often
  questioning the idea of a future Utopia, and the
  possibility of such
• The struggle between old values and new
  conventions
• The Beggar by Reinhard Johannes Sorge (1912)
  tells the story of a visionary poet striving for
  fulfillment in a harsh and materialistic society.
• The journey to find fulfillment and truth in life

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History of Expressionism in Germany

• With the impending threats of World War One, the
  emphasis of expressionist work turned away from
  personal problems and became a warning of
  universal catastrophe and a plea for the
  reformation of man and society.
• Until revolution overthrew the German monarchy in
  1918, little expressionist theater was being
  produced due to strict and imposing censorship.

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Expressionism Flourishes

• When the war ended, however, expressionism took
  root in Germany.
• Theaters began to take expressionist plays into
  their repertoire
• 1919-1924- Expressionism was the principle type
  of theater in Germany

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Decline of Expressionism

• As the state of German society declined, so did
  the optimism of the end of the war turn to
  disillusionment and disappointment.
• The ideals and views of Expressionist thinkers
  were crushed.
• By 1924, Expressionism had essentially become
  dead, and what expressionist works remained
  evoked pessimism and personal despair.

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Great Expressionist Playwrights

• Georg Kaiser (1878-1945)
• His trilogy of expressionist
• plays reveal his perception
• of the world as it recedes into
• despair, paralleling the state of
• Germany
• Coral (1917) Protagonist comes to understand the
  soul- fails, but is optimistic about the future.
• Gas I (1918) Son on a journey to regenerate
  society- fails but is left optimistic about the
  future.
• Gas II (1920) Desperation of mankind- the world
  is self-destructing at the end of the play

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Franz Kafka

• Born July 3, 1883 in Prague, Bohemia
• Grew up in a middle-class Jewish family, with the
  constant presence of his domineering shopkeeper
  father.
• Received a degree in law in 1906
• Could sustain a livelihood and have time to
  write.
• 1917- Kafka diagnosed with tuberculosis, spends
  most of his time in sanatoriums and health
  facilities.
• Dies June 3, 1924

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Kafkas life as reflected in his writing

• Kafka lived in emotional dependence on his
  parents
• In much of his writing, a sense of impotence
  (even in rebellion) underlies thematically.
• Kafka had many fruitless love affairs his values
  contradicting between an utter aversion to
  intercourse and a fondness for prostitutes.
• In his writing, Kafka connects sex with guilt,
  treating it as an attractive and enticing
  abomination.

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Some of Kafkas Expressionist Works

• The Judgment- 1913
• The story of a rebellious son who is condemned to
  suicide by his overbearing father
• The Metamorphosis- 1915
• The story of a son, an outsider, who undergoes a
  physical and symbolic transformation into a
  repulsive and fatally wounded insect.
• The Penal Colony-1919
• The story of a torture machine, its operators,
  and its victims. Parallels are made to a persons
  inner morality, guilt, and retribution the age
  of World War One.

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• Kafkas concise writing style sharply contrasts
  the complexity, anxiety, absurdity, and
  powerfully oppressive symbols of torment that
  fill his vision as a writer.

• Kafkas writing both elicits and defeats any
  attempt
• at conclusive explanation and is thus
• expressionistically subjective.

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The Guardian of the Tomb-1916

• Nightmarish vision of a castle on the threshold
  between the human sphere and the other
• Cool yet grotesque style.
• Contains little plot set in a timeless room in
  an unnamed country.
• Portrays the challenge of discovering ultimate
  truth

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But I know it is getting blacker and blacker,
this time it is an autumn sad beyond all measure.