The Achievements and Influence of German Expressionism

Anyone with knowledge of western art history knows Germany's contribution to modern art: Germany is an important country in the development of western modern art, and German expressionism. Dadaism, powys, Bauhaus and post-expressionism have played an important role in promoting the development of modern art, but in the mid-1930s, with Hitler's fascist Nazis gaining power in 1933, the development of modern German art came to a standstill. Hitler called modern art "decadent art" and ordered the public exhibition of modern art places to be prohibited; What's more, some modern artists are persecuted and suppressed. The Nazi hated modernism because the German modernist artists represented by expressionism at that time had obvious political color. This political color is constantly strengthened because of the energy experienced in the First World War, and the German Dadaism in the war and post-war expressionism, especially the new objective realism, even pointed the finger at the ugly dark side of the German bourgeoisie; This made the Nazi government in Germany absolutely not allow modernism to exist in Germany.

1933 Hitler's Nazi fascist regime forcibly passed and promulgated the new government's regulations on artists-it is said that Hitler himself, Marshal Green, Propaganda Minister Goepel and others participated in the formulation of the regulations. 1933165438+10, the german visual arts society was established. Thirdly, according to the regulations, the German government stipulates that all artists and art-related professionals in Germany must register as members within a time limit. All members must be loyal to the German government and promote the "healthy development" of German culture and art. By 1938, the Art Society had about 3,200 sculptors and15,000 painters, making it the largest art group in Europe at that time. Needless to say, the central leading body of the Calcium Art Association, which is directly controlled by the government, decided to formally examine the qualifications of registered members and formulated the association's articles of association to examine and award qualified members. Those who fail are not allowed to engage in artistic activities. What's more, some artists' cups were regarded as "alien and decadent" and were exiled, arrested and imprisoned. The first batch of artists who were criticized, attacked and persecuted were Beckman and Dix. Groz, Kirchner, Mark, Nold and others-mostly German expressionist artists; In addition, Picasso, Matisse, and Mei Jinjie are not Germans; Ruart and others are also included.

It is commendable that German modernist artists never give up artistic creation. As early as 1920, they held a Dadaism art exhibition in Germany, collating "Green; The administrative department of the Third Reich directly pointed the finger at the leader of the fascist Nazis, Green. In order to attack German modernist art and advocate Nazi's new art policy, 1930, Green personally held a large-scale art exhibition "German Art House". At the opening ceremony, Hitler frantically clamored to strangle the land of German modernist art. But this didn't scare the upright German artists at all. 1937, they held an art exhibition of contemporary Germany in Munich, Germany. The bravery of German artists also won the support of the German people, and more than 2 million people came to visit. At the same time, less than 600,000 people came to visit the German art exhibition supported by the German government. And most of them are audiences organized by the Nazi Party.

One of the more active German expressionist artists at that time was Max Baetschmann (884- 1950), who was very famous before the war. In 1930s, he was an active member of "New Objectivity" in Germany. When Hitler's fascist Nazi regime was in power, it was not afraid of power, violence and evil forces. Criticized and attacked the reactionary social phenomenon in Germany with a real artistic and family conscience. He often takes German classical myths, historical facts, folklore and so on. As the theme, the original material, through symbolic metaphor, contains the oppression of the image in a picture space, reaching the level of squeezing the audience's emotions almost to the point of holding their breath. However, his paintings are of great value in times, nationalities and political criticism, and are considered as one of the greatest German artists in the 20th century.

Otto dix is also a painter of the German "neo-objectivism" school. He is not as straightforward and bold as Beckman and others. His style is almost classical; But with his insight and meticulous attitude, he looked on coldly with various social attitudes; Then he painted them on the screen with meticulous meaning. Finally, he quoted the French versions of German and Dutch classical masters to illustrate his figurative traditions and techniques in Western Europe.

Famous German expressionist painters include george grosz, ernst ludwig Kirchner, Franz Mark and emil nolde.

Joseph powys: A Great Artist

In the history of modern and contemporary art, there are many outstanding and truly great artists; They not only have great artistic genius; Second, and more importantly, their great humanistic spirit. Picasso, Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian, etc. This is why the United Nations calls them cultural giants and masters. German artist Joseph powys is recognized as a master who can keep pace with Picasso.

Joseph powys (092 192 1-1986) was born in1921. He studied biology, natural science, entomology and zoology in his early years and loved nature. He was drafted into the army in World War II and became a pilot in the German Air Force. 1943, when he was flying a plane to perform a task, he was hit by gunfire over the Crimean peninsula, crashed and landed seriously; Thanks to the rescue of the local indigenous nomadic Bohemians, they survived. After the war, he studied sculpture at the Dü sseldorf Academy of Fine Arts in Germany. He participated in many genres, including artistic creation such as behavior and installation.

196 1 year, powys became a professor at Dü sseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. He thinks that education is the best place to realize his artistic ideas. He put his democratic thoughts and social sculpture thoughts into education with an extremely naive and serious attitude; He turned the teacher's classroom into a classroom open to all, allowing students to shape their own halls in all directions. He said that education should be a comprehensive model for people. 1967, that is, during the Cultural Revolution in China, powys announced the establishment of the German University Student Party, which was later transformed into the German Democratic Party and is still active today. When the French student movement was in full swing, powys was led by German students to revolt and occupied the school office. Later, he was taken away by the police, and the school contacted him to dismiss him from teaching for six years. Soon, powys's artistic conception became a master of western Europe. From 1962 to 1967, powys held several surfing school art exhibitions. 1964, in Yazhen University of Technology. On the stage, he added washing powder and garbage to a piano, making it make a harsh and dull sound. A student didn't understand what he meant, so he went on stage to beat powys. He still didn't fight back, his nose was bleeding; I saw him take out a Christ image from Cong Huaizhong, holding his left hand above his head and his right hand signaling everyone to be quiet. The audience immediately stood in awe. This image later became his standard image-reflecting his artistic view of psychotherapy. Powys is an active, even fanatical idealist; He claimed that I was not interested in covering up my illness and medical accident; I think it is my democratic duty to awaken and educate more people. He is concerned about the anthropological significance of art, as well as the image influence and enlightenment of art on society. He resolutely opposed American business culture and art, and publicly criticized it more than once.

He is also an activist in the environmental movement; 1980, when he attended the European Parliament election meeting, he took the lead in organizing street and forest cleaning. 1982, at the 7th Kassel Literature Exhibition, he held a performance exhibition entitled "700 Oaks", calling on artists and audiences to plant trees together. At that time, he planted the first oak tree himself; Although, due to his death, he failed to see the situation of planting 700 grams of saplings; But he finally awakened people's conscience to protect nature: 1987, the plan was finally completed; Not only artists, but also European heads of state, United Nations officials, children, the elderly, soldiers and doctors came to participate in tree planting activities. Now, when people watch this lush oak forest, no one does not miss powys, the most human and greatest artist.

Neo-expressionism;

Anli said that German neo-expressionism appeared as early as the 1960s, and gradually developed into a new school by the end of 1970s. Most neo-expressionist artists were born on the eve of World War II and between the two wars. This generation abandoned the revolutionary spirit of avant-garde artists in the seventh century, and the standard became more realistic. They don't care about amazing artistic techniques and lofty ideals; They are more free and indulgent, absorbing creative materials and sources from the colorful reality of contemporary society: business consulting advertisements, fashion, hard film and television images, advertisements, illustrations, photos, magazines, anything; Philip Gerston is such a German neo-expressionist painter. He painted light bulbs, cigarettes, cigars, writing shoes, ready-made clothes, shirts and underwear, portraits without nose and eyes, grimaces, party masks and wooden sticks with nails; These figurative paintings with personal meanings.

Since then, German Neo-Expressionism is a new art movement represented by georg baselitz and Sigmar Polk. George Basilis (1938-) was born in East Germany and received art education there. At that time, East Germany was a part of the Soviet Socialist Union, and the artistic style of socialist realism in the former Soviet Union influenced the whole of Eastern Europe. Fabien barthez was dissatisfied with and opposed to the artistic trend of thought in East Germany at that time, and was expelled from the East Berlin Art School on the grounds that the political department was mature. /kloc-When he was 0/9 years old, he came to West Germany and immediately devoted himself to the creation of abstract expressionism. He devoted himself to the pursuit of truth; But he is tragic and unfortunate personally. He lives alone in the castle of a monastery in northern Germany. This was originally the residence of Prince Mü nster; However, after the baptism of the war and the destruction of the post-war garrison, it has been ruined. Here, Basilis developed his own artistic style; In his works, the image is reversed. This kind of hanging upside down is not only aimed at the audience's watching, but also the artist himself paints backwards when he is creating. In fabien barthez's own words, this creative way is to "arouse confusion and shock, and show a challenging posture. In this way, he draws the audience's attention to the picture itself and focuses on the theme at the same time. The images in Bathory Ritz's pictures are drawn with strong colors and broad and rough brushstrokes, which look rude and sad.

Sigma Polk (1942-) is another kind of artist. He is familiar with almost all visual media and can create at will. He himself said that he can make a comprehensive creation in any way or in several ways. He even painted with a poisonous pigment, which contained arsenic. He satirizes American commercial art and academic domineering with extreme acrimony, and expresses his thoughts with his own artistic image in a playful way.

German young neo-expressionist artists mainly include Pank, Joel Imendorf, anselm kiefer and others. For these younger generations, powys is their spiritual leader; Admittedly, powys had a great influence on them. Imendorf used to be a student in powys. He participated in many artistic activities in powys, trying to exert social and political influence through art; But I always feel that I can't act alone, and I finally choose painting to express my concern and dissatisfaction with the current situation in Germany. Kiefer is a generation born in the ruins after the war. He is bent on revitalizing the traditional German painting art, and his own views and thoughts on German history are reflected in his works. One of his 7-ton large-scale installation works, Broken Container, is an example: Kiefer made a book shape with lead plate and printed some historical photos on it; Arranged on the bookshelf, glass fragments are scattered in front of the bookshelf in summer vacation. The inspiration of this work comes from the original teachings of Jews: people put five things owned by 10 mysterious gods in a container, including love, knowledge, death, survival, sex and so on; But people are restless and want to know the secret of God. Six utensils were broken in the process of collection, so good and evil were scattered at the same time. In Kiefer's works, there are nine mysterious names written on the bookshelf, one of which is knowledge; In this way, the glass scattered on the ground symbolizes the knowledge scattered on earth; It is through this artistic way of medical books that artists express their criticism and reflection on the weakness of human nature, that is, the present situation of human beings.

Lucie Smith, a famous art critic, has this feeling about German neo-expressionism: "The existence and development of German neo-expressionism seems to have formed a complete trajectory-from complete resistance to global acceptance. The great success of the predecessors has made the March of the latest generation of German artists more difficult. Neo-expressionism inevitably became an academic art for them. "