Expressionism

by Ashley Bassie

Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Emil Nolde, E.L. Kirchner, Paul Klee, Franz Marc as well as the Austrians Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele were among the generation of highly individual artists who contributed to the vivid and often controversial new movement in early twentieth-century Germany and Austria: Expressionism. This publication introduces these artists and their work.

The author, art historian Ashley Bassie, explains how Expressionist art led the way to a new, intense, evocative treatment of psychological, emotional and social themes in the early twentieth century. The book examines the developments of Expressionism and its key works, highlighting the often intensely subjective imagery and the aspirations and conflicts from which it emerged while focusing precisely on the artists of the movement.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Germany, Art History

199 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I downloaded this from the library with the idea that I would read this before visiting the Tate Modern exhibition on Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider. That was not to happen. Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile primer read a few weeks after seeing the exhibition to help flesh out the wider background of the movement and the key players.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This overview of Expressionism is an adequate introduction to or review of the art movement. It briefly touches on Expressionism's relationships with other movements, such as its predecessor, Impressionism, and Dadaism, which rejected Expressionism even while incorporating some of its tenets, and it discusses its beginnings, its heightened tension between the world wars, and its demise. Its main focus is the work of individual artists, short biographies of whom can be found in the book's final pages. It is worthwhile to have a Google search page open to reference images that are not reproduced in the book or, in the case of a Kindle version, color images of important works.

[Tonatiuh Dávila · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro cumple excelsamente la función de introducir al lector al mundo del expresionismo.