...ART WORLD Art House: An Introduction to German Expressionist Films Alissa Darsa, Thursday, December 26, 2013 Robert Wiene, Stills for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (three works) (1919). Gelatin silver print, sold at Christie's New York. Welcome to the first article in Art House, a series detailing the evolution of art house films, and their impact on the relationship between art and cinema. The term art house refers to films that are artistic or experimental in nature, and are generally not part of the commercial mainstream. It is interesting to note that unlike many other forms of avant-garde, filmic avant-garde does not typically generate the profits earned by its musical, visual, and literary counterparts. Most artists who have produced avant-garde films have had to rely on other artistic media as a source of income, including Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987).1 However, there are several films that have crossed over into the realm of mainstream cinema, and have been both financially successful as well as stylistically influential. This article focuses on German Expressionism, one of the earliest artistic genres to influence filmmaking, and one that arguably paved the way for many other avant-garde styles and techniques. Walter Reimann & Hermann Warm, Le docteur à la foire (from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) (1919). Sold at Binoche Renaud-Giquello & Associés. German Expressionism is an artistic genre that originated in Europe in the 1920s, and is broadly defined...
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...German Expressionism ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ is a film from the 1920’s and was the most influential and significant film that belongs to the German expressionism film movement. German Expressionism, as it name shows, highlights the expressions of the internal opinions, beliefs, and feelings via the use of artistic, stylistic materials and fundamentals. It had a main goal to advance life, especially, change. Therefore, it may be considered an evolution revealing German civilization through these times of alteration or change. Due to the loss of the German’s in WWI and its consequences, the movement’s plot was about madness, insanity, and poverty. It’s not just a story telling but it had communal, civilizing, and political features. Expressionist first film was ‘The Student of Prague’ (1913), then comes the first vampire movie in 1916 ‘ Nache des Gravens’ (Night of Horror), ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ in 1920, and ‘The Golen’ (how we came into the world)… All these films have their special style, the style that specialize the German Expressionism movement. It’s characterized by relying heavily on the story and design, mise-en-scene, with the weird ambiance and work of art but lightly on editing. According to the shooting, the camera moves slightly with unpredictable camera’s position. As for the illumination, we see harsh distinction of light and shadows for diverse effects, known for Chiaroscuro lightning, symbolizing the occurrence of gloomy phases in human beings...
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...Art in the early 20th century was all about escaping from the harsh realities that were present during and after World War I. As citizens were experiencing an array of emotions, they turned to different forms of artistic expression to help cope with their anxieties and worries. Out of this arose the German Expressionist movement and the Surrealist movement, both deriving out of the European areas of the world. Through this, filmakers such as the German Robery Wiene and the Spanish Luis Bunel and Salvador Dali created their respective films The Cabinet Of Dr. Calagari and Un Chien Andalou. Simultaneously, Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician was developing a theory of psychoanalysis that focused how the human unconscious can manifest itself...
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...early cinematic gem that uses expressionist form in order to convey social and political messages to viewers. This film is not only a representation of the artistic styles within Germany at the time, but also an insight on the opinions of the German people during the early Weimar Republic. Sociologists, such as Siegfried Kracauer, have praised this film for its artistic form and political message. The expressionist stylings of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari are both immediate and abundant throughout the film. Gothic themes enter the storyline within the first scene when a man is observing the movements of the spirit of his fiancee. Title cards with disorderly designs narrate much...
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...Nosferatu and German Expressionism Expressionism itself was an artistic movement that occurred in Europe in the early nineteen hundreds. The movement is said to have started around “1908 as a style of painting and the theatre”. The movement spread across Europe but Germany was considered the epicenter of Expressionism, where it was said to be more intense than any other nation in Europe. The Expressionist style was essentially a rejection of realism. In painting, artists would not use the clever shading techniques, for example, to make the subject look real, like painters at the time had been doing for so long. They might use brighter or darker colors and make people look distorted and often creepy and grotesque. “In late February 1920, a film premiered in Berlin that was instantly recognized as something new in cinema: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”. Although Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene, was considered the first Expressionist film and would spark a massive movement in the film industry, it did not come as much of a shock to a lot of film critics since the movement was already so prevalent in other art forms. Nonetheless, many more film makers followed suit in making movies that featured the Expressionist style. One such movie was Nosferatu. Made in 1922 and directed by F.W. Murnau, Nosferatu was for all intents and purposes a horror film. The protagonist, Hutter, who works for a real estate company, is sent to the mysterious estate of a potentially huge...
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...explore the revolutionary possibilities of modernism, so that painting became the leading art form. Modernism refers to the style and ideology of art produced between the 1860s and the 1970s. As traditional art forms had become outdated due to industrialization, modernism emerged in Western Europe out of a need to reject tradition and embrace the political, social and economic change of the industrial age. Modernism was embodied by a new generation of artists whose work was characterized by a variety of styles and subject choices that flew in the face of accepted convention. While, generally speaking, it challenged a number of aesthetic principles, modernism ultimately gave rise to a variety of movements and styles. The great progenitor of modernist revolt was the impressionist movement in the second half of the nineteenth century in France. Impressionist painters made colorful style of painting, characterized as impressionism. Impressionism attaches great importance to our perception of contrasts and light, something that is accurately expressed through the seasons. Claude Monet’s Rouen Cathedral in full sunlight was a famous painting, other than this Pierre Auguste Renoi, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec are among the most important impressionist painters. CLAUDE MONET – "Impression, sunrise" (1873) At the end of 19th century Post-impressionism arose that was a soft revolt against impressionism that influenced the development of art in the 20th century...
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...Emil Nolde Amidst a period of unification and the eventual collapse of Germany’s national identity, an alliance of artists emerged. Defying traditional academy art training, the German Expressionist artists and their movement was a stance on the renewal of German Art. It was initiated with the focus on primitive cultures, glorifying their lack of Westernization by the means of ethnography. Emil Nolde’s fascination with the ideals of a primitive civilization employed the very essence of German expressionism; the emotion, the energy and the spiritual freedom he embodied in his art became immoral and controversial amongst the modernists and conservatives in Germany. Emil Hansen was born in 1867 into a family of farmers, he changed his last name to Nolde in 1902 out of respect to the Danish-German region of his birthplace. Breaking with family traditions of farming Emil decided to pursue art. Early on, his favor toward nontraditional European art was apparent in his pencil sketches of Egyptian and Assyrian sculptures he drew in 1880. He also began painting landscapes of the German countryside and scenes of the ocean, and local...
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...art was completed by a German artist named Hannah Höch during the year of 1919. Höch was born in and sadly died at the age of 88 in 1978. During her years, she was best known as one of the originators for photomontage. Photomontage is an art that involves a collage of multiple photographs that is cut out from printed text or media. She studied at School of Applied Arts in Berlin where she studied under the supervision of Harold Bergen. At School of Applied Arts, she chose to major in graphic arts, not for her enjoyment but to please her father’s desire. However, at the beginning of the first war in 1914, she like many women dropped college to help support the soldiers going to the war by working at the Red Cross. A year later after working with the Red Cross, Höch returned to school to finish her program; it was during those years that she met Raoul Hausmann. Raoul Hausmann was a member of the Berlin Dada movement and it was through him that Höch joined the movement in 1917. Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany is photomontage completed in 1919 by Hannah Höch during her involvement with the Berlin Dada movement. This artwork involves a collage of cut out press...
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...Research Essay: LENI RIEFENSTAHL a. Outline the life of the personality you have studied The German actor, filmmaker and Nazi associate, Leni Riefenstahl, has stirred one of the greatest controversies of modern times. Seen as either a Nazi propagandist or a pioneering artist of great ingenuity, the discussion regarding Riefenstahl is still a prevalent issue in today’s world. Born into a financially stable family on 22nd August 1902, Riefenstahl was reasonably sheltered from Germany’s economic and political unrest up until as well as after WWI. As a child, she was extremely passionate about dance and the theatre. Wanting to dance on stage, although acceptable to Leni’s mother, was seen as below their social status by her father. Throughout Leni’s adolescence, she caused a continuous rift between the family, as her enthusiasm for the arts never declined, leading to her secret enrolment in the Grimm-Reiter Dance School in Berlin in 1918, as well as agreeing to work as a secretary for her father’s company in order to gain his later approval for dance lessons in 1920. After being persuaded by Leni’s mother, he enrolled her in the Jutta Klamt School where Leni studied under the ballerina Eugenie Euardova. Riefenstahl’s career in dance began in October 1923 and was abruptly ended in June 1924. She performed her first solo performance at the age of 21 and received positive reviews. During her second recital she caught the interest of Max Reinhardt, a leading theatrical director...
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...“There are significant stylistic variations within international film styles.” How far have you found this to be true in the films you have studied for this topic? There are significant stylistic variations within the German Expressionist films, ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’, ‘Nosferatu’ and ‘Metropolis’. German Expressionism is the term used to describe the creative arts and film movements that were happening post war, in the early 1920’s. They are associated with themes of death, depression, darkness, insanity and distortion, which depict the state of the country and its civilians following the devastation of the war. German Expressionist films are significant to the history of the film industry as they have been filmed using distinctive methods and style techniques, which have influenced modern day film makers such as Tim Burton. One of the most significant stylistic variations that can be found within German Expressionist films is the considerable use of mise-en-scene. ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’, directed by Robert Wiene, was filmed against painted sets and backdrops. Due to the lack of funding in the film industry at the time, some films were shot entirely on backdrops like the ones seen in this film. The importance of this is that the sharp angles and distorted buildings look highly unrealistic, which reflects upon the madness and insanity of the main character Francis. As he is the narrator of the film, we are being told and shown the story through his mind, therefore...
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...Brendan Roberts 1 Cubism A style of art that stresses abstract structure. 2 Degrees of abstraction/Cubism/Expressionist This make me think of the Theo Van Doesburg painting with the cow. But then it also has the lines we would see in a cubist painting also. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. 3 German Expressionist Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. 4 Modernism Just a new way of looking at art, that lead to pop art 5 Photomantage Took pictures ant photos from other pieces and makes them in to one, with more meaning, over even hidden meanings 6 Futureism Was all about the modern view on things, was tired of the past. 7 Dada A European artistic and literary movement (1916-1923) that flouted conventional aesthetic and cultural values by producing works marked by nonsense, travesty, and incongruity 8 Surrealism Because they are taking real objects that are all different and making them into one painting. 9 Dade A European artistic and literary movement (1916-1923) that flouted conventional aesthetic and cultural values by producing works marked by nonsense, travesty, and incongruity 10 Surrealism Because they are taking real objects that are all different and making them into one painting. 11 Cubism A style...
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...however, Sweeney Todd released in 2007 gives an almost bastardized version of what one would call a ‘classical’ musical. Stylistically, Sweeney Todd fits into several genres of film besides just musicals, including: german expressionism, horror, and exploitation films. Director Tim...
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...known as "Abstract Expressionists" or "The New York School" did, however, share some common assumptions. Among others, artists such as Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), Willem de Kooning (1904–1997), Franz Kline (1910–1962), Lee Krasner (1908–1984), Robert Motherwell (1915–1991), William Baziotes (1912–1963), Mark Rothko (1903–1970), Barnett Newman (1905–1970), Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974), Richard Pousette-Dart (1916–1992), and Clyfford Still (1904–1980) advanced audacious formal inventions in a search for significant content. Breaking away from accepted conventions in both technique and subject matter, the artists made monumentally scaled works that stood as reflections of their individual psyches—and in doing so, attempted to tap into universal inner sources. These artists valued spontaneity and improvisation, and they accorded the highest importance to process. Their work resists stylistic categorization, but it can be clustered around two basic inclinations: an emphasis on dynamic, energetic gesture, in contrast to a reflective, cerebral focus on more open fields of color. In either case, the imagery was primarily abstract. Even when depicting images based on visual realities, the Abstract Expressionists favored a highly abstracted mode. Context Abstract Expressionism developed in the context of diverse, overlapping sources and inspirations. Many of the young artists had made their start in the 1930s. The Great Depression yielded two popular art movements, Regionalism and Social...
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...trends being reflected in the art movements. The decades from 1900 to the present have seen the human race living in an ever shrinking planet. The 20th century saw a boom in the interchange of ideas, beliefs, values, and lifestyles that continues to bring the citizens of the world closer together. Technological breakthroughs From the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s, the world zoomed into the Electronic. Age in the mid-1900s, then into the present Cyberspace Age. In just over 100 years, humans went from hand-cranked telephones to hands-free mobile phones, from the first automobiles to inter-planetary space vehicles, from local radio broadcasting to international news coverage via satellite, from vaccinations against polio and smallpox to laser surgery. Social, political, and environmental changes There has been migration across the globe, allowing different cultures, languages, skills, and even physical characteristics of different races to intermingle like never before. The 20th century also suffered through two World Wars, and several regional wars in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. There was the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the Asian economic crisis of the 1990s. Considered the modern-day plague, AIDS has afflicted millions the world over, while millions more continue to live in hunger, disease, and poverty. Environmental destruction has also become a major concern. Effects on the world of art The art movements of the late 19th century to...
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... Murnau’s juxtaposition between the city and rural societal mores is aimed far beyond the sanctity of the traditional family structure. By 1920, more Americans lived in urban cities than rural areas for the first time in the country’s history. Rapid urbanization had skyrocketed the production in cities, turning them into centers of culture and community. The attraction to the budding sexual revolution, culture of consumerism, and opportunity for upward mobility made the city life into the future model of American society, leaving those left in rural areas to pick up the pieces. Murnau uses the inherent purity of rural America’s connection to nature as the counter to the allure of the city. Tying back to his roots in the German Expressionist movement, Murnau paints the pastoral landscape like a student of the Düsseldorf School. The master shot of “The...
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