The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater

EXPRESSIONISM

Expressionism: translation

Identified in European art and literature as early as 1900, expressionism was a reaction against impressionism and sentimentality (not to mention realism), but it was not fully articulated in modernist theatrical terms until the 1910s. German expressionists reacted to war industrialization by focusing on the machine's threat to human values, using dialogue reduced to the staccato rhythms of a telegram and dramatic action broken into short episodes. The inner angst of the central character was externalized through a distortion of reality as represented in the scenic elements, sound effects, and performance styles. In 1921, Robert Edmond Jones designed a Broadway production of Shakespeare'sMacbeth(1921) in the expressionist mode, using masks suspended above the playing area to represent the three witches.He and Kenneth Macgowan then spent ten weeks traveling in Europe and observing productions that they described in their influential bookContinental Stagecraft(1922).
The book inspired other American scene designers to experiment with nonrealistic shapes and color, bold lighting, and shadows. Thus the European movement enjoyed a brief fling on the American stage in the 1920s.
Eugene O'Neill toyed with expressionist elements in some of his early plays, includingThe Emperor Jones(1920),The Hairy Ape(1922),The Great God Brown(1926), andDynamo(1929).Beggar on Horseback(1924) by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly employed expressionist techniques, as didSophieTreadwell'sMachinal(1928) and Elmer Rice'sThe Subway(1929). Perhaps the definitive example of American expressionism is Rice'sThe Adding Machine(1923), in which its antihero, Mr. Zero, is seen climbing over the keys of an enormous adding machine, a technological wonder that has rendered his bookkeeping job (and his life) superfluous. Several European expressionist plays, including Ernst Toller'sThe Insect Comedy(1922) and Karel Cäpek'sR.U.R. (1922), won commercial success on Broadway, usually produced by the Theatre Guild.

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  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
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  5. expressionism—Expressionism translation Both the chronological parameters and the artistic definition of Expressionism have changed in recent years. Once considered an avantgarde movem...Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik
  6. expressionism—expressionism translationSynonyms and related wordsabstractionism coloring deformation distortion exaggeration false coloring falsification garbling hyperbole inaccuracy ...Moby Thesaurus
  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
  10. expressionism—expressionism [ksprenzm] nu иск.u экспрессионизм...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  11. expressionism—сущ. иск. экспрессионизм...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  12. expressionism—nэкспрессионизм разновидность авангардизма в западноевропейском искусстве первой трети XX века.strong экспрессионизм разновидность авангардизма в западноевропейском иск...Англо-русский словарь по социологии
  13. expressionism—n. экспрессионизм...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  14. expressionism—сущ.emэкспрессионизм разновидность авангардизма в западноевропейском искусстве первой трети XX века....Англо-русский социологический словарь
  15. expressionism—n експресонзм...Англо-украинский словарь
  16. expressionism—експресонзм...Англо-український словник
  17. expressionism—n мист. експресонзм....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  18. expressionism—[ksprenzm] n иск....Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  19. expressionism—expressionism [ksprenzm] n иск.i экспрессионизм...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  20. expressionism—ksprenzm n иск. экспрессионизм...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  21. expressionism—Експресонзм...Шведсько-український словник