Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik

EXPRESSIONISM

Expressionism: translation

Both the chronological parameters and the artistic defi-nition of Expressionism have changed in recent years. Once considered an avant-garde movement identified roughly with the years 1905-1914, Expressionism was deemed a romantic revolt of youth against the bankruptcy of their elders. As a break with traditions tied to idealism and positivism, the pre-1914 spirit of projecting emotion through art was revealed first and most powerfully in German painting: from 1905 in the art of the Dresden-basedBrücke(i.e., Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff*, Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde,* and Max Pechstein) and from 1911 in the work of the Munich-basedBlaue Reiter(Was-sily Kandinsky,* Franz Marc, August Macke, and Paul Klee*).Expressionism s delayed impact on music, literature, and theater,* extending well beyond Ger-many s borders in all these areas, was no less striking. Understood as an artist s deeply personal articulation, the movement was revered by sympathetic critics as the culmination of creativity. The atonal music of Arnold Schoenberg* and Alban Berg, emerging in 1908, and the early writing of Kurt Hiller* and Walter Hasenclever* all predated World War I. Founded in March 1910,Der Sturm,a literary weekly published in both Berlin* and Vienna, was the first mouthpiece for both artistic and literary Expressionism.Die Aktion,* established in 1911, played a similar role. But an internal feud dissolvedDie Brückein 1913, and the war led to the dispersal and death of many once associated with the move-ment—most notably, those involved withDer blaue Reiter.
Although Expressionism gained public notice in postwar Germany, the con-ditions that gave rise to it (i.e., the materialism and rigidity of the Kaiserreich) had been displaced by violence, suffering, and despair. Since several politically involved artists—for example, Otto Dix,* George Grosz,* and Rudolf Schlich-ter—rejected Expressionism, it became customary to view their postwar work (seeDada) as an entirely new movement. This explanation is no longer judged adequate. Because the total rejection of accepted aesthetic standards is a central feature of Expressionism, the daring political and social art of the early Weimar era (i.e., through 1923) is now more generally seen as the movement's second generation.
The war-induced trauma depicted in the exaggerated realism of Expression-ism's second generation seemed to run its course in parallel with Germany's great inflation.* Despite the initial approval given Franz Werfel's poetry, Walter Hasenclever's plays, Max Beckmann's* drawings, and Robert Wiene's films* (seeThe Cabinet of Dr.Caligari), a new style was demanded by 1924. By this date an estimated 2,500 German authors (essayists, poets, dramatists, and prose writers) had been classified as Expressionists. While many were gifted, most were charlatans with scant ability; few were still writing in 1924. Concurrent with Germany's cruel, albeit necessary, currency stabilization, Expressionism was eclipsed by a harshNeue Sachlichkeit.*
REFERENCES:Barron,German Expressionism; Donald Gordon,Expressionism; Selz,German Expressionist Painting; Sokel,Writer in Extremis; Willett,Theatre of the Wei-mar Republic.

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  2. expressionism—EXPRESSIONISM translation Expressionist architecture originally developed parallel to the aesthetic ideals of the Expressionist visual and performing arts in the European...Historical Dictionary of Architecture
  3. expressionism—Expressionism translation The term Expressionismem as it applies both to German theater and to drama was a manifestation of modernism by about though the rejection of il...Historical dictionary of German Theatre
  4. expressionism—Expressionism translation A movement in literature and art which has its origins in the German theater of the early th century expressionism eschews realiststrong represe...Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater
  5. expressionism—expressionism translationSynonyms and related wordsabstractionism coloring deformation distortion exaggeration false coloring falsification garbling hyperbole inaccuracy ...Moby Thesaurus
  6. expressionism—Expressionism translation Identified in European art and literature as early as expressionism was a reaction against impressionism and sentimentality not to mention real...The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater
  7. expressionism—[ksprenzm]экспрессионизм...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  8. expressionism—экспрессионизм...Англо-русский дополнительный словарь
  9. expressionism—n экспрессионизм...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
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  12. expressionism—nэкспрессионизм разновидность авангардизма в западноевропейском искусстве первой трети XX века.strong экспрессионизм разновидность авангардизма в западноевропейском иск...Англо-русский словарь по социологии
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  15. expressionism—n експресонзм...Англо-украинский словарь
  16. expressionism—експресонзм...Англо-український словник
  17. expressionism—n мист. експресонзм....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
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  20. expressionism—ksprenzm n иск. экспрессионизм...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  21. expressionism—Експресонзм...Шведсько-український словник