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German expressionism and the types and characteristics of german expressionism
Abstract expressionism analysis essay
Abstract expressionism analysis essay
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is one of the key artists of German Expressionism. He is renowned for his depictions of urban scenes, as well as the non-representative aspects of German Expressionism. One good example of his work is Panama Girls, which he painted in 1911. In Panama Girls, Kirchner is exploring the enlivening but destructive nature of Western society, which is one of the central tenets of his work. He uses the dancing girls as a subject to discuss this idea. In this painting, Kirchner portrays a dancing troupe called the Panama Girls, who are led by a women named Aida Overton Walker. We know this is the group in the work both from the title, which suggests the name of the troupe, and their dance. The Panama Girls were famous for doing …show more content…
The depiction of African American women makes it tempting to suggest that the primary issues Kirchner is confronting in the work are ones of racism, but this is likely not the case. Racism was part of the reality in Germany, and certainly something Kirchner was aware of.2 However, Kirchner was not concerned with elements of racism. He was more focused on ideas of primitivism and African art. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries a phenomenon called the ethnographic museum become popular. These museums displayed “primitive” art from faraway lands such as Polynesia and Africa, often from colonial territories. Dresden, where Kirchner lived, had a particularly popular museum. In it, he “discovered” primitive art.3 Kirchner and his contemporaries were drawn to this primitive art because it “displayed exactly the same formal language as [their] own.” “Kirchner was attracted to the assumed spontaneous and uninhibited efforts of the natives.”4 He is so attracted to this primitive style because it reflects his thematic goal of analyzing the destructive elements of society. Kirchner was part of a group called Die Brücke, which in English translates to The Bridge. The meaning of the name is somewhat self-explanatory, in that the group hopes to be a bridge between the past and the future of art. To quote the group’s manifesto “We carry the future and want to create for ourselves freedom of life and of movement against the long-established older forces.”5 Kirchner and others felt very restrained by the old guard, both an artistic and societal sense. Using the Panama Girls gives Kirchner a platform to discuss these ideas of freedom. He is both rejecting representational traditions, and commenting on societal tendencies. By employing the formal elements he does, Kirchner is exposing his underlying fears about society. He paints the dancing women almost like aliens. Their forms are
In the years between 1933 and 1945, Germany was engulfed by the rise of a powerful new regime and the eventual spoils of war. During this period, Hitler's quest for racial purification turned Germany not only at odds with itself, but with the rest of the world. Photography as an art and as a business became a regulated and potent force in the fight for Aryan domination, Nazi influence, and anti-Semitism. Whether such images were used to promote Nazi ideology, document the Holocaust, or scare Germany's citizens into accepting their own changing country, the effect of this photography provides enormous insight into the true stories and lives of the people most affected by Hitler's racism. In fact, this photography has become so widespread in our understanding and teaching of the Holocaust that often other factors involved in the Nazi's racial policy have been undervalued in our history textbooks-especially the attempt by Nazi Germany to establish the Nordic Aryans as a master race through the Lebensborn experiment, a breeding and adoption program designed to eliminate racial imperfections.
Works Cited Chin-Lee,Cynthia. Amelia to Zora: 26 Women Who Changed The World.Charles Bridge, 2005. Ergas, G. Aimee. Artists: From Michaelangelo to Maya Lin. UXL, 1995 Lin, May. Boundaries. Simon and Schuster New York, 2000. Cotter, Holland. “Where the Ocean Meets the Mountain”. New York Times May 8: C23.
As the German painter and sculptor, Kathe Kollwitz conveyed in her statement that the art she created held the burden of transfiguration. The fixation of sorrow and hardship that occurred while she sat huddled with the children was the driving force of her drawings. Her realization that art could not only be an escape from the horror happenings in Germany such as the rationing of food and the starving-to-death children at that time was also a way to voice her opinion of change and revolution. It was the quest, in which she enamored in her drawings and it is this feeling that I value from it. I choose this artist because she delineated the various circumstances surrounding the human individual, she took into account perspectives that involved life with its tragedies, and the lives of little angel children. Her drawings and sculptures were prepared to emulate and capture what her eyes had seen while she was in Germany and this is why I had taken a likening to her drawings. The two artworks that I am specifying in this research paper is the drawing labeled “Germany's children starve!” and”Self-Portrait, Hand at the Forehead (Selbstbildnis mit der Hand an der Stirn)”.
Ramsay, B. (2000). Dance theory, sociology, and aesthetics. Dance Research Journal, 32(1), 125-131. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1478286
Art could be displayed in many different forms; through photography, zines, poetry, or even a scrapbook. There are many inspirational women artists throughout history, including famous women artists such Artemisia Gentileschi and Georgia O’Keeffe. When searching for famous female artists that stood out to me, I found Frida Kahlo, and Barbara Kruger. Two very contrasting type of artists, though both extremely artistic. Both of these artists are known to be feminists, and displayed their issues through painting and photography. Frida Kahlo and Barbara Kruger’s social and historical significance will be discussed.
The culture and political structures of Panama as we know it today has evolved from an incredibly diverse and interesting history. Geographically, Panama lies on an isthmus, a strip of land that essentially connects the greater landmasses of North and South America. It is believed that volcanic activity in the late Pliocene era closed the former Central American Seaway that had separated the two continents. The climatic implications of this landform are incredible, allowing for the redistribution of oceanic currents and the formation of the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic of today.
Sayre, H. M. (2010). A World of Art: Sixth Edition. In H. M. Sayre, A World of Art: Sixth Edition (pp. 511, 134, 29, 135, 152, 313-314, 132). Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.,.
Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief (2005), and Steven Spielberg, director of Schindler’s List (1993), both use their works to portray the theme of racism in Nazi-era Germany. Racism today affects millions of people daily, with 4.6 million people being racial discrimination in Australia alone. However, in Nazi-era Germany, Jewish people were discrimination because they weren’t part of the ‘master race’, causing millions to suffer and be killed. To explore this theme, the setting, characters, conflicts and symbols in both The Book Thief and Schindler’s List will be analysed and compared.
The official name of Panama is the Republic of Panama or (República de Panamá). Panama is located on the narrowest and lowest part of the Isthmus of Panama that links North America and South America. This part of the isthmus is situated between 7° and 10° north latitude and 77° and 83° west longitude. Panama is slightly smaller than South Carolina, approximately 77,082 square kilometers.
The dancers begin in unison in a large clump. They dance together with slow movements; reaching up with their arms straight and palms open. It is to be noted that when they stretch their arms up, they tilt their head and look up as well. Throughout the piece the dancers repeat this movement, which represents reaching and praying to God. The dancers are constantly reaching up, embodying their despair and their yearning for help. As the dance progresses, the dancers repeatedly break out of the clump in the center and do different movements and their own sequences. After this, they always go back to their clump and do synchronized movement. Their constant breaking away from the group symbolizes their continual want to be free, as well as their persistency. On the other hand, their constant going back to the group shows how African-Americans will always be joined together by their culture, prayer, and hardships. Additionally during the piece, multiple dancers will run up to another dancer and jump or hold onto them, and then they do a couple of movements together. This shows how they are reliant and dependent on each other, and how they need each other throughout their suffering. Lastly, Much of the movement in this section possesses the downward energy characteristic of African dance, which symbolizes a connection to the earth. The choices Ailey made choreographically communicates all
In fact, society continued to make distinctions between racial groups using biology. One of the most famous examples of this is Bartmann’s Exhibition. Prior to the nineteenth century, there were very few black people living in England, and even then the majority of the non-white inhabitants were male. So, when the attraction opened up showcasing Saartjie Bartmann dressed in a tight, flesh-colored dress to accentuate her large and unusual buttocks, the public immediately began to see black women as exotic creatures, which automatically made them lesser than the civilized Euro-American women. Bartmann was also displayed “caged, rocking back and forth to emphasize her supposedly wild and potentially dangerous nature” (Fausto-Sterling 30). This only perpetuated the notion that black women were wild, savage, and overwhelmingly sexual; thus, furthering the gap between ‘normal’ and
Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective. Vol 2.13th ed. Boston: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning, 2010.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York: Prentice Hall Inc. and Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1995.
“Art is a recurring form of human practice. Some have argued that all human societies have shown evidence of artistic activities.” (Carroll 5)
Also, the performers are constituted with same number of men and women. They imply the importance of equality through the performance. The female and male dancers use the same movements to show that they are equal. The message being conveyed here is important, on the grounds of its social influence and giving the whole performance a deeper meaning. The thing makes dancing different and odd to other occupations is the fact that most famous and well known dancers are mostly females, since on other social circumstances males tend to dominate more realms. Here, besides all the female masters, the male dancers appear as much as the female artists do and they also showcase what they are capable of. As I watched more of the performance, the interactions between dancers and the LED lights became more appealing to me. Dancers use their bodies to interpret the connections between human beings and technology. Moreover, the background music also plays a vital role in the production of this whole piece of art. The tempo of the music, the dance movements, as well as the frequency of the lights going on and off together appeared to the audience as a desirable combination. I love how the dancers do every movements according to the rhythm of the music and how they two fit perfectly. All of those things together made a great show to watch and