Four woodcuts from German Expressionist Woodcuts, 1994, edited by Shane Weller.

Expressionism was in part a reaction against Impressionism‘s emphasis on atmospherics and surface appearances, and against academic painting’s rigid technique, stressing instead the emotional state of the artist and subject… creating an experience rich in drama that conveyed the inner reality of the subject matter” (pvii).

Barlach’s To Joy

Ernst Barlach. To Joy, 1927 (p1).

Kirchner’s Three Paths

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Three Paths, 1917 (p47).

Rohlf’s Large Head

Christian Rohlfs. Large Head, 1922 (p100).

Schmidt-Rottluff’s Prophetess

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Prophetess, 1919 (p115).

6 Responses to “German Expressionist Woodcuts”

  1. Greg Pass Says:

    In the last post, Janus Geminus looked forward and backward, coordinating past and future. In the last image here, I see the prophetess with one eye open and one eye closed, translating inward to outward.

    These four directions remind us of Yeat’s Four Faculties: Janus, all-of-time thus timeless, an all-seeing Concord, beyond any one; the prophetess, an instrument of personal vision, subjective, drawing on her time(s).

    Janus, btw, was also god of door hinges. Need I say more?

  2. Mirco Says:

    No, you need not.

    Janus is a truly charming god… my favorite living mathematician, John Horton Conway, has recently resurrected the bi-pronged fellow, in his riveting interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

    You can see & hear Conway talking about Janus some time in the middle of this video (it is called Geometry, Logic and Physics):

    http://www.math.princeton.edu/facultypapers/Conway/

  3. Anna Meenaghan, Contemporary Art Says:

    This expressionism seems to certainly express the “time” during which it was created. This, in my opinion, is the purest form of expressionism. Not the watered down versions of what gets passed off as expressionism these days.

  4. thomas Says:

    boom

  5. thomas Says:

    boooooooooommmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :d yessss

  6. These Days pt. 1 « hollinsworth dot com Says:

    […] beautiful actress and shooting hi-def only to put the works through a process to make it look like this was counter-intuitive, the timeframe was far too tight for a finished animated product, et cetera. […]

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