Expressionism and Futurism Summary

Expressionism and Futurism

  • Circa 1910, visual arts shifted towards abstraction, moving away from imitation.

  • Originating from French Post-impressionism and Fauve painting.

  • Expressionism in Germany and Futurism in Italy.

  • Expressionists and Futurists had close contact.

  • Expressionists held a Utopian view of technology mixed with Romantic nostalgia.

  • Futurists rejected tradition, embracing technology for mass culture.

Expressionism

  • Expressionist painting embodies agonism and pathos.

  • Influenced by German aesthetic philosophy:

    • Conrad Fiedler & Adolf Hildebrand: theory of pure visibility (Sichtbarkeit).

    • Robert Vischer: theory of empathy (Einfühlung).

  • Challenged classical concept of mimesis.

  • Wilhelm Worringer's writings influenced Expressionist painters and architects.

  • Worringer attributed Modernist painting to Teutonic ‘will to expression’ (Ausdruckswollen).

Expressionist Architecture

  • Defined by its contrast to rationalism and functionalism.

  • Includes early Hans Poelzig, Jugendstil ‘Amsterdam School’, Erich Mendelsohn, and Hugo Häring.

  • Group around Bruno Taut (1880–1930), Walter Gropius, and Adolf Behne (1885–1948).

  • Taut: painting becoming abstract, heralding unity of arts.

  • Architecture should have ‘structural intensity’:

    • expression, rhythm, dynamics.

    • new materials (glass, steel, concrete).

  • Taut saw architecture as Utopian.

Bruno Taut

  • Leading architect of Berlin Expressionist movement.

  • Architecture: practical dwellings and symbolic public buildings.

  • Early work: low-cost housing in Garden City context with colored exteriors.

  • Concepts: Volkhaus (house of the people) and Stadtkrone (city crown).

  • Glass Pavilion at Werkbund exhibition, 1914, Cologne: anticipated Volkhaus.

  • Influenced by Paul Scheerbart (1836–1915).

  • Scheerbart described universal architecture of glass and steel, ushering in social harmony.

Public Buildings and Expressionism's Populist Philosophy

  • Grosses Schauspielhaus, 1919, Berlin (Hans Poelzig): social condensers in new mass culture age.

  • Structures: symbols of mass culture for commercial, festive, recreational, or religious uses.

  • Buildings used Expressionist manner to communicate with public emotionally.

Expressionism and Politics

  • Taut's city crown: artistic form to Pyotr Kropotkin's anarchism.

  • Taut supported workers’ councils and revolution of 1918.

  • Founded Arbeitsrat fur Kunst (AFK) with Gropius and Behne modeled on workers’ soviets.

  • Taut wanted architects in AFK to control visual environment.

  • Goal: arts fusion under great architecture.

  • Artist as modeller of Volk sensibilities, responsible for new state's fabric.