Expressionism
Term used to describe works of art in which reality becomes distorted in order to express feelings or the particular internal artist’s visual. Specifically in painting, the emotional element is reinforced by the deliberate use of bold colors, the deformation of shapes, etc. The term usually refers to the work of artists of the last 100 years, although in a broader sense as expressionists could be also considered El Greco or Grünewald. Direct precursors of the modern expressionism are, however, Van Gogh in painting and Strindberg in theater. A purely expressionist movement in German theater broke out after the First World War (Kaiser, Toler) while expressionist elements can somebody find in the works of Brecht, O’ Keily, O’Neill, etc. In terms of literature, it can be said to expressionist tendencies in the work of some authors (eg Kafka). The more consciously expressionist movements in visual arts were Bridge and Blue Rider, who acted in the early 20th century in Germany. German artists of that time have been influenced by the works of E. Munch, who since the 1890's, which had become widely known and admired very much. Other, individual, remarkable expressionist painters were Kokoschka, Soutin, Rouault and Beckmann, while among the expressionist sculptors is worth to be mentioned Zadkine and Barlach. As regards France, expressionistic are the works of Buffet, Gkromair, Gruber, etc. Finally, in Belgium, in the village Laitem-Saint-Martin and around of K. Permeke formed a group of expressionists which was included by G. De Smet, F. Van den Berg and F. Masereel. Sometimes the term is also used in architecture on the work of Peter Behrens and Erich Mendelssohn (Tower Einstein, Potsdam, 1920), as well as the building of the institution Goetheanum, near Basel. After the First World War, the close collaboration between architects and other artists was common phenomenon in groups like Novembergruppe.