Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Wednesday, November 12, 1969

Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, November 12, 1969


Expressionism

in

Europe:

Inner

visions

and

external

tensions

"Expressionism in Europe, 1900-
1930," University Museum of
Art.
By MAGDA GUENNEWIG
"Believing in the potential-
ities of a new generation of
creative men as in a new gen-
eration of appreciation men
we call upon all youth; and
as the youth in charge of the
future we desire to rid our-
selves of the powerful older
establishment. Everybody who
is willing to give uninhibited
and direct expression to his
creative impulses belongs to
us."
Manifesto of the "Brucke"
There has been much debate
about the meaning of the word
'expressionism." It has been
used to define attitudes or styles
covering various movements.
Originally it had a rebellious
connotation. As a movement in
the arts, primarily in Germany
during the first decades of the
20th-century, it represented a
reaction against the values held
by a materialistic pre-war so-
ciety, and to the painful press-
ures of the first world war, the
German revolution, and the
Weimar Republic.
It was manifested in the
visual arts in a rejection of im-
pressionism which represented
the culmination of a long his-
tory of naturalistic representa-
tion. Artists no longer concern-
ed themselves with the depic-
tion of outer reality but with
inner vision. They rejected the
ready-made formulas of tradi-
tion and convention and search-
ed for new means of expressing
feeling. Artists now responded
to a wide variety of influences:
primitive sculpture, medieval
woodcuts, and children's draw-
ings became a basis of inspira-
tion.
Believing in forces greater
than man they found their sub-

Ilax Beckmannf: Hunger 1919, from "Hell"

ject matter in nature, religion,
dreams, and sex. They search-
ingly analyzed the individual in
portraits and mirrored their ex-
perience of the tensions in con-
temporary society in their de-
piction of street scenes and of
night-life.
Munch, a predecessor of the
expressionists, had made the
relationship between the sexes
his major subject matter. This
was further expored in its sick-
ly-erotic dimensions by Schiele,
and found elaboration in the
work of Oskar Kokoschka who
dramatized the misunderstand-
ings and antagonisms of the
sexes in Columbus and Bach
Cantata.
Religion, which was conceived
as universal brotherhood by the
"Brucke" people, a group of
young artists who banded to-
gethere in 1906 in Dresden, was
also a means of expressing the
artists' non-earthly aspirations
and symbolizing the suffering
of humanity. It ranged from re-
ligious primitivism in the work
of Nolde to the intense medieval
religiosity of Barlach. Nature
or the universe was embraced
as subject matter by artists like
Schmidt-Rottluff who painted
grandiose nature scenes.
For the "Blauer Reiter"
group, the leading artists of
which were Kandisky, Klee,
Marc, and Feininger, who join-
ed together to establish a com-
mon artists program, it pro-
vided a means for epressing
their mystical identification
with the universe. This is seen
in the non-objective work of
Kandinsky, the architectural
visions and seascapes of Fein-
inger, and in the representation
of a fusion of animal and nature
in cosmic universalism in the
work of Marc.
Vision and dreams were turn-
ed into subject matter in the
work of Kubin, and particular-
ly by Klee who aimed to incar-
nate the intangibles of fantasy
and dreams undistorted by in-
tellect or traditional visual for-
mula in his work.
In reaction against preoccu-
pation w i t h transcendental
problems and introspection-a
spiritual revolt against a mate-
rialistic society-we also find
overt rebellion by artists who
did not want to ignore the tra-
gic conditions, hunger, poverty,
inflation, and political unrest.
The reaction of these artists
ranged from compassion with
the poor and downtrodden, in-
tensly felt in the work of Kathe
Kollwitz and Barlach, to an at-
titude of cynical acceptance of
conditions and a brutal, factual
statement of them.
Grosz, a disillusioned idealist
who felt contempt for man, de-
scribed and satirized the mili-
tary, the speculator, and the
sordid aspects of sex. Otto Dix
recorded his experience of the
war in etchings of harrowing
detail. Beckmann created char-
acters who are somnabulists in
a world of absurdities.
The formal means developed
Dial 8-6416
ENDING TONIGHT
LiLLIL'
Shown Today at 1:15-5:00-8:55

FAYE
Shown Today at 3:09-7:00
* THURSDAY *
"Midnight Cowboy"
and
"Stolen Kisses"

by the expressionists to state
the varied reactions to the outer
world ranged from the simpli-
fication, distortion, and exag-
geration of natural forms of the
"Brucke" artists to the symbolic
use of line and color by the
"Blauer Reiter" group, They did
not consider printmaking a
minor art but employed it as a
major vehicle of expression. In-
spired by the exploration of the
graphic media by Gauguin and
Munch for symbolic and sub-
jective expression, and by 15th-
century medival woodcuts they
felt that the immediacy of the
emotional impact could best be
created with the element art-

istic means that graphic media
offered.
Woodcut became a favorite
technique since in it large and
contrasted areas of light and
dark could be exploited for dra-
matic , potentialities. Barlach
said of the woodcut that it de-
mands complete avowal and un-
equivocal precipitation of what
one really means, and that it
dictates a certain universal ex-
pression and rejects an amiable
or easy solution. Concentration
of expression was also a goal in
the utilization of other graphic
techniques, etching, drypoint,
aquatint, and lithography, me-
dia which they attacked with

the same force and directness
as the woodcut.
It was the contribution of the
expressionists to r e s u r r e c t
graphics as important media of
artistic expression. In their
seismographic reaction to the
troubled contemporary society
they became the prototype for
the 20th-century artist for
whom art spills over into life
and who is inextricably bound
to his fellow human beings in
the desire to effect change that
makes the world a better place
to live in.
Al
MR a

Lyonel Feininger: "Troistedt"

Max Pechstein: from the "Lord's Prayer"



Phobos by
Jamews Jttdkis

The Michigan Daily, edited and man-
aged by students at the University of
Michigan. News phone: 764-0552. Second
Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich-,
igan, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor,.
Aichigan 48104. Published daily Tues-
day through Sunday morning Univer-!
sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by
carrier, $10 by mall.
Summer Session published Tuesday
through Saturday morning. Subscrip-
tion rates: $3.00 by carrier, $3.00 by
mall.

--- --- COUPON -- - -.
r
- THOMPSON'S
r
r
r PIZZA
r
r
rr 761-0001
#off[50c Doff
Large one item (or more)
r pizza. One coupon per Pizzo
I
SMon., Tues., Wed.,
Thurs. Only
* NOV. 10-13
r

V.
r
r
1
1
,r
r
r

NATIONAL ENERAL CORPORATION '
FOX EASTERN THATRES
FOR VILL~
375 No. MAPLE PD. -769-1300
MON-FRI. 7:10-9:20
SAT.-SUN.-5: 10 -7: 15-9:30
H CASSDY AND
THE SUNDANCE KID

Program Information 662-6264
HELD OVER
6th Week
T
Ye
now you can SEE
anything you want
at...i
starring ARID GUTHRIE
[R] COLOR by DeLuxe
United Artists
Shows at: 1,3,5, 7, 9P.

We Are Looking For Talent
For A Nationwide TV Show
The producers of the All American Colleae Show, hosted by
Arthur Godfrey, will hold auditions in the Union Ballroom from
- 4:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 1969.
Those chosen will be flown to Hollywood to appear on a national
television show and have a chance to win up to $5,000.001
All registered college students are eligible.
We need singers, dancers, instrumentalists and novelty acts. Ex-
ception: no heavy classical acts.
BRING YOUR OWN ACCOMPANIST!
Call University Activities Center offices for further information
763-1107 or 769-5474
TOMORROW
THURSDAY NOON LUNCHEON-DISCUSSION
at the ECUMENICAL CAMPUS CENTER
921 Church St.
MONEY-POWER AND THE DYNAMIC OF FAITH
DR. GEORGE MENDENHALL--Professor of Near Eastern Studies
Time: 12:00 Noon-Cost: 25c
Reservations: 662-5529
Sex, Students, and the New Morality
Brief reviews of some important books will be followed by informal
discussions of the views and issues presented. While the books
announced will be the basis for the presentations, other current
literature will also be considered Open to all interested persons.
THURSDAY EVENINGS AT 7 PM.
FIRST METHODIST CHURCH
State and Huron, Pine Room (Basement)
TOMORROW
NOVEMBER 13--"Abortion" (Lader)
Reviewer-ROBERT HAUERT, Program Director
Office of Religious Affairs
NEXT WEEK
NOVEMBER 20-"Toward a Christian Understand-
ing of the Homosexual" (Jones)-"Careful study
can erase centuries of ignorance, prejudice, con-
demnation, and persecution which have charac-
terized the Christian community's past handling
of homosexuality" (Pastoral Psychology)
Reviewer-LLOYD W. PUTNAM, Acting Director
Office of Religious Affairs
Sponsored by the Office of Religious Affairs
2282 SAB-764-7442

(OMPUTA-DATE
"Finds People for
People"
CALL 662-4401

inmmmw m m m- - mm-m- ---
p r

Sell1
a

PANAVISION COLOR BY DELUXE
MMATURE*udm cFoMTRA

Join
The Daily
Sports Staff

POT
in Daily
Classifieds

Daily Classifieds
Bring Results


MAIHIGRAS

THE HOUSE

Invites the Community to

"PEACE SHABBAT"
EDIflAV IInF"AAED 1a

V

II

I

=Iu - - - -v10 M"-