Major Project TERM II - How expressionist painters show different aspects of life?
Today as a part of my major project research I will be looking at how different expressionist artists are visualizing different aspects of life which are connected to my project. I want to look at artists that are widely known and the small ones as well in order to get a clearer view on how various artists are presenting their ideas to the world, despite how recognizable they are.
This will help me to choose my own path of how I want to present those aspects.
1. Memories
Memories are a first theme in my project. In my sketches I decided that I want to show it in a form of infinite frames where in every next frame there is something missing, just like our memories can be forgotten. I am confident in this idea, however I am keen to look into other ones, because maybe there is a better way of showing memories.
After a quick look at how expressionist painters are painting memories, I found out that a lot of them are presented in similar fashion. Colourful, uneven and without distinctive features, which is supposed to represent the fleeting memories.
I like how colorful all of these pieces are, it show how we tend to remember things more fondly than they actually were. Unfortunately, it will be no use for me, since my photographs will be shot in black and white.
As for the way how undetailed and more focused on overall shapes not elements these pieces are. I think that it connects to my piece quite nicely. I will probably use it in my photograph, as the every other 'copy' of me in a frame might be a bit more blurred. As for the general idea I do not think I will change it. Expressionist artists are showing memories in a way that does not easily translate into the world of photography.
2. Ageing
Second idea for my project is to show ageing as a multiple exposure portrait mixed with Photoshop's neural filters. I obviously do not have a photo of me from the future, therefore I want to use Photoshop's new tools that can age me. I feel good about this idea, I feel like a multi-exposure photos can be a good visualisation of showing a process of something, however I am open for new possibilities.
After looking for expressionistic paintings that are visualizing the ageing process, I was quite surprised that there are almost no pieces of such category. Expressionists, while eager to show older people in their works, are not so enthusiastic about showing the 'transition' itself. The closest to such thing, that I could find, were works of Maria Lassnig. Who in her art is often showing body awareness and fragility of human body (Davies, 2017). Her painting 'Two ways of being' is actually quite close to what I want to create with my portrait.
3. Thoughts
As for this photograph I am very certain of my idea. Long exposure portrait is something that I have done before and I know that I can make it look good. It is not, by any means, the most original photograph, there is an enormous amount of this kind of photos online, however I still believe that this concept done right can still release some emotions. Nonetheless, I am still look at some other artists and how they visualize thoughts.
Similarly to ageing, expressionist painter like to show characters thinking, however they do not like to capture the thought process itself. Their subjects are never overwhelmed by their thoughts, they may be sad or detached from reality, however they do not look like they are moved by it. The characters are very static, there is no dynamic in these paintings. In Vincent Van Gogh painting you can see how he used faded colours on the man's face in order to show his state of melancholy (Scott, 2018).
Similar thing you can notice in this painting of Ernst Kirchner. Ranging from brush work inspired by Van Gogh pieces, through cool colours in which character is painted, to the static nature of this piece. There is no movement, no haste in this artwork. You can feel the loneliness and despair (Scott, 2018), however it is all closed in the moment, the emotions are not leaking through the canvas, there is no fight within this painting, the characters in these pieces reconciled with their emotions. Which is the opposite of what I would like to present.
4. Dreams
Fourth photo in this collection, which I want to create by using compositing in photoshop. I do not have an idea for the finished composition yet, therefore any inspiration is welcome at this stage.
In this colourful piece created by Franz Marc, we can spot a sleeping woman in the middle, surrounded by different creatures, like horses and lions. The entire piece can represent the harmony between people and animals, where in this piece the former is symbolized via houses and a female in the middle and latter the animals themselves.
While this is a good depiction of how dreams are form, I would argue that it is a deception of 'a dream', not 'the dream'. This is only a visualisation of one of the authors imaginations, I want to, however, create an artwork that catches the general feeling of dreaming, not the dream itself.
Closer to my idea is this portrait by Walter Gramatté in which we can see a boy in forest being illuminated by probably a moonlight. I feel like this painting is far more expressive and open for interpretation, since there are not that many elements that would indicate what exactly this this artwork is representing.
5. Death
For this one, I have vague idea of how I want it to look. I want to use multiple exposure portrait to show a spirit leaving my body. However, death is a very commonly use trope in all mediums, therefore I am open to visualise differently death in my artwork.
Starting with Kupka's version of probably the most known depiction of death in art, Danse Macabre, dating back to late middle ages. His version is much more movement present than in the original ones, what is also different is how some of the corpses have half of its body seemingly alive and other half is only a skeleton. I feel like it shows the process of transitioning between life and death.
Another representation of death can be seen in this lithograph created by Edvard Munch. This visualisation is closer to one I had in mind, a portrait where you are presented with your dead self, without any unnecessary elements. This piece, contrary to the one above it, feels much more personal and intimate, which is exactly how I see death, as something only between you and death itself.
6. Emotions
For this last photograph I am not set on anything, besides the theme. I know that I want to show many emotions in one picture. At first I wanted to do it by creating light paintings, however now I am not so sure about it, since they might come out too cartoonish. I am open for inspirations.
Daniel Segrove is San Francisco based artist who, as he says himself, focuses on his 'work focuses on my own perspective on life, identity, and empathy. I paint and draw people who are close to me or if they have a story I can relate too' (Segrove, n.d.). This point of view is overlaps with mine. I want to show how I am perceiving emotions. I think that the way he shows emotions in his paintings, is fascinating. The scratches, and roughly erased faces are a great way of showing emotions. What is problematic for me, however is that I have one photo to show a variety of emotions and I do not see how I could do it using this method.
Works of Taner Yilmaz at first glance are similar to paintings of Daniel Segrove, after a further consideration, however I believe that pieces of this artist have much more depth to them. The disintegrating human faces, which are full of detail at the same time are creating this magnificent image of beauty covered under a layer of negative thoughts and emotions. Yilmaz in 2018 said that 'My works are mostly expressionist art so i see all emotions in my works', which is a statement I agree with it. His artworks are open for interpretation and everyone sees different emotions within them. I think that I will somehow implement parts of Taner Yilmaz's work into my own.
After looking at all this works of different artists, I think that my vision of how I want to present my work is a little clearer. I was hoping for a bit more connections between painting and photography, however these are after all completely different mediums, which are difficult to translate between each other. I cannot say that artworks for categories I already had ideas changed my mind drastically. There were, however, some things that definitely helped me. I now know a little better how I will present emotions in my piece, which means that now I have an idea for all of the photographs I will took for this term's project.
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Sources:
Gomez, L., 2018. Taner Yilmaz ‘My works are mostly expressionist art so i see all emotions in my works’ Istanbul, Turkey. Forever a Generation – Klassik Magazine. [online] Klassikmagazine.com. Available at: <https://www.klassikmagazine.com/taner-yilmaz-works-mostly-expressionist-art-see-emotions-works-istanbul-turkey/> [Accessed 13 February 2021].
Onarto Art Store. n.d. Daniel Segrove - Human Emotion Expressionist. [online] Available at: <https://onarto.com/daniel-segrove-human-emotion-expressionist/> [Accessed 13 February 2021].
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. n.d. The Dream. [online] Available at: <https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/marc-franz/dream> [Accessed 13 February 2021].
Artsy.net. n.d. Edvard Munch | Todeskuss (The Kiss of Death) (1899) | Available for Sale | Artsy. [online] Available at: <https://www.artsy.net/artwork/edvard-munch-todeskuss-the-kiss-of-death> [Accessed 13 February 2021].
Thyssen-Bornemisza, M., 2020. German Expressionism in the collection of Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza | Apollo Magazine. [online] Apollo Magazine. Available at: <https://www.apollo-magazine.com/art-diary/german-expressionism-in-the-collection-of-baron-thyssen-bornemisza/> [Accessed 13 February 2021].
Scott, D., 2018. What You Can Learn From The Expressionist Art Movement. [online] Draw Paint Academy. Available at: <https://drawpaintacademy.com/expressionist-art-movement/> [Accessed 13 February 2021].
Davis, C., 2017. 5 Reasons Why We Love Maria Lassnig So Much. [online] Sleek-mag.com. Available at: <https://www.sleek-mag.com/article/maria-lassnig-art/> [Accessed 13 February 2021].
Excellent detailed and considered research and how tis informs your work - well done
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