- According to Siegfried Kracauer, the filmThe Cabinet of Doctor Caligariby Robert Wiene (1919) was revolutionary not only because of its expressionist form but also because of its political message. In your essay, briefly elaborate what this expressionist form consists of and how it reflects the movement as a whole. Then relate these general characteristics of Expressionism to the formal characteristics of Wiene's film and to the film's sociopolitical "message." This will require you not only to reflect upon the overall situation in Germany at the time, but also the comment upon Kracauer's view that the narrative frame added later to the film completely undermines its revolutionary impulse.
1. According to Siegfried Kracauer, the film The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari by Robert Wiene (1919) was revolutionary not only because of its expressionist form but also because of its political message. In your essay, briefly elaborate what this expressionist form consists of and how it reflects the movement as a whole. Then relate these general characteristics of Expressionism to the formal characteristics of Wiene's film and to the film's sociopolitical "message." This will require you not only to reflect upon the overall situation in Germany at the time, but also the comment upon Kracauer's view that the narrative frame added later to the film completely undermines its revolutionary impulse. References · · My Courses · Duc Vu Nguyen · Check your Progress Skip to content Accessibility Mizzou Online German 2320: German Civilization 1850 to Present (Writing Intensive) · Home · Overview · Lessons · Syllabus · Course Map · Help Lesson 3: German Expressionism and Dadaism · Learning Objectives · Reading/Film Assignment · Commentary · Study Questions · Lesson Essay Learning Objectives After completing this lesson, you should be able to accomplish the following: · Define the term expressionism and situate the movement within art history. · Provide an overview and discuss examples of the most important movements in expressionism. · Define the term Dadaism and its overall goals and program. · Elaborate upon the roots and development of early German film. · Discuss the aesthetic and political significance of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. Reading/Film Assignment Click on the PDF links below to access the reading assignment for this lesson. · Kracauer, Siegfried. "Caligari." In From Caligari to Hitler. Revised and Expanded Edition, 61–76. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004. · Kellner, Douglas, "Expressionism and Rebellion." In Passion and Rebellion: The Expressionist Heritage, edited by Stephen Eric Bronner and Douglas Kellner, 3–39. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. · The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari by Robert Wiene (1919). (The films selected for use in this course are available for purchase as DVDs or in streaming formats through Netflix, Amazon or FilmStruck.) Commentary Background Expressionism is one of several related tendencies in modern culture that belong to the larger development known as modernism. Depending on how broadly or narrowly one defines it, modernism had its beginnings as early as the middle of the nineteenth century, or it burst onto the scene as a dynamic new force as late as 1910. In most general terms, we can understand modernism as an international art movement that expresses disappointment with the cultural heritage of the West and, therefore, breaks with its aesthetic traditions both stylistically and thematically. Modernism also incorporates the new technologies (telegraph, radio, film, cars, planes, etc.) and visions of urban life into its works. In any case, expressionism is a quintessential modernist phenomenon that begins around 1905 and, as a clearly focused movement, lasts only slightly more than a decade. It is an almost exclusively German movement, although it is closely related to other modernist movements such as cubism and futurism. Among other things, what sets German expressionism apart from other contemporary European movements is that it was part of a larger cultural revolution that encompassed art, literature, drama, and film. Hence, we speak not only of expressionist painting but also of expressionist literature, theater, and film. Expressionist Painting As an art movement, expressionism has roots that go back to French impressionism and the new international tendencies deriving from it at the end of the nineteenth century. In particular, the leading post-impressionists (Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Paul Cézanne), the "Fauves" ("wild beasts" or "savages," as the group of young artists centered on Henri Matisse in Paris between 1898 and 1905 were called), and the pre-expressionist innovator Edvard Munch all clearly had a direct influence on the earliest German expressionists. While the German expressionist movement had already begun with the founding of the Brücke ("Bridge") group in Dresden in 1905, it was not until 1911 that the name became attached to the movement. The term "expressionism" had in fact already been used in general terms to describe various painters of the burgeoning modernist art movement at the turn of the century. It was only after the 1911 Berlin Secession exhibition staged by Lovis Corinth that the term became associated with the new style of the young German modernist artists. Although these German artists rarely used the term to describe themselves, it increasingly became linked exclusively to them and the radically new German literary movement that developed parallel with the art movement starting in 1910. Although this lesson focuses on two groups of painters (Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter), the expressionist movement itself encompasses many more young German artists who did not belong to either school and who developed expressionist techniques and styles that distinguish them from both groups. Nonetheless, the leading forces of this dynamic new tendency in German art are clearly found in these two groups. Also, a look at the divergent yet parallel directions they take serves well to summarize the major trends of expressionism as a whole. Die Brücke—The Beginnings Figure 3.1. Self-portrait as a Soldier by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1915. In 1905, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff founded an artists' community in Dresden known as the Brücke group. In stark contrast to the later Blaue Reiter group, this community of young artists neither declared nor followed any set of theoretical or aesthetic principles. All of its founding members had no prior academic training in art; in fact, at the time of the group's forming, all were studying to become architects. The bond was purely a communal one, based on the premise that they would share a common lifestyle and give mutual impulses to the artistic style of each member. The single founding principle, formulated and carved in wood by Kirchner, merely declares that the group calls together all youth who "believe in a new generation of creative artists…who want to create freedom of art and life against the entrenched older forces." As other artists (most notably Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein) joined the group later, the tension between the growth of the community and the artistic development of the individual artists gradually drove the group apart. In 1910, most of the group moved to Berlin in an attempt to further their series of successful joint exhibitions. The successes in Berlin enabled the artists to establish their individual styles and lessened the need for their communal art enterprises, leading ultimately to the joint decision to dissolve the group. Die Brücke—Philosophical and Artistic Principles Although the Brücke did not adhere to any programmatic artistic principles, it did develop certain characteristic techniques and tendencies that reveal the general oppositional bent of expressionism. Heeding Nietzsche's critique of the lifeless materialism of the Second Reich, the young artists of the Brücke called for a new dynamic art that was genuine and vibrant, free of the stifling forces associated with the traditional art world. In particular, the painters of the Brücke attempted to revitalize the idyllic mood of late-nineteenth-century painting. Influenced in its early years by the South Seas work of Gauguin, the group produced various depictions of nudes in natural settings. Colors were used to infuse the scenes with new life, giving their work a psychic energy absent in realist or impressionist works. Pure, bright spectral colors are placed next to each other instead of flowing in gradual transitions from one hue to the next. Similarly, the brush strokes are bold and free flowing, imparting vital, emotional energy to the canvas. Die Brücke in Berlin After most of the Brücke painters moved to Berlin in 1911, a new phase of their work began, just as the common interests holding them together started to dissolve. Also, with the notable exception of Emil Nolde, whose work continued to depict a semi-mystical union with primitive nature or religious feeling, the focus on dynamic forces in scenes of nature gave way to cityscapes and pictures that capture the psychic turmoil of the city dweller. In 1913–1914, Kirchner painted a series of Berlin scenes, a kind of psychogram of city life that depicts the pent-up tensions and unnatural form of life in the modern city. The other key shift in the Brücke work in Berlin corresponds to its close relationship with the new literary expressionism that had burst onto the Berlin scene in 1910. In this regard, the sense of impending doom conveyed by early expressionist poets becomes a prevalent theme in their work. A central figure in this movement was Herwarth Walden, the writer and composer who published the key expressionist journal Der Sturm (The Storm, 1910). The title points to the expressionist idea that an all-cleansing storm, an apocalyptic destruction of modern civilization was necessary in order for the "new beginning" to occur that would usher in the "new man," a replacement for the "last man" (in Nietzsche's phrase) who was the product of a decadent modern culture. Der Blaue Reiter In contrast to the Brücke, Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) consisted of artists with a strong academic training. But like the artists in the earlier Dresden group, they too wanted to break free of the attitudes and vision typical of the traditional art world. The leading figure of this secessionist movement was the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, who in 1896, gave up a position as a professor of law and came to Munich to further his career as an artist by studying at the Munich Academy. In 1909, he founded the Munich New Artists' Association, a group dedicated to liberating art from established academic principles and the cultural scene surrounding the normal museums and galleries. One should note, however, that while their artistic approach signaled a radical break with tradition, the founding members of the association were entered in prominent Munich social registers. Figure 3.2. Franz Marc's The Little Blue Horses, 1911. When Kandinsky became disillusioned with the New Artists' Association in 1911, he, Franz Marc, and Gabriele Münter founded the Blaue Reiter association, which took its name from an almanac in preparation by Kandinsky and August Macke, one of the other leading painters associated with Der Blaue Reiter. This loosely associated group of artists held their first exhibition from December 1911 to January 1912, at the Moderne Galerie Tannhäuser in Munich. It was a breakthrough event for German expressionism, establishing the fame of Kandinsky, Marc, and Macke overnight. Marc's The Little Blue Horses, which combines the mystical force of nature embodied in the powerful, rounded outlines of the horses and the bold, abstract forms of the landscape background with the symbolic use of bright, primary colors, became one hallmark work for the group—although the group's name actually stemmed from an earlier work by Kandinsky. Gaining widespread fame through the premier Munich event, the group attracted the interest of the new literary expressionists associated with the Berlin journal and Galerie, both entitled Der Sturm (The Storm). Soon other young talents joined the group, such as the Swiss painter Paul Klee in 1912 and the