Cubism & Expressionism

In this paper I will be comparing the expressionist art movement with the cubist art movement. I will discuss some of the artists that made these movements a stepping-stone for the other movement that followed. I will look at Picasso and Kandinsky to name a couple.

Expressionism, which began in 1905, was the term used for early 20th century art that conveyed emotional and spiritual preoccupations of the artist, using a variety of styles and subject matter (Arnason 124). These expressionist artists built on techniques of the post-impressionist movement; they generally relied on simple and powerful shapes that were direct and sometimes crude expression (Arnason 124). All this was to heighten the emotional response of the viewer experiencing the art (Arnason 124).

Expressionist drew inspiration from their own background traditions of medieval sculptures and folk art (Arnason 124). They also referred back to art from Africa and Oceania (Arnason 124).

One of the more famous artist that also referred to African art for inspiration was Pablo Picasso. Picasso with Braque have been credited for developing cubism.

Cubism was a revolutionary turn in the history of art. It was not an abstract style in itself, but it gave way to the many varieties of nonobjective art that made its way throughout Europe (Arnason 156). It can be seen as a more radical expression of the philosophy that justified the artistic thoughts and innovations of the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism movement (Karmel 21).

Vasily Kandinsky is one of the more famous artist recognized from the expressionist movement. Born in Moscow 1866, he studied law at the University of Moscow, and declined a professorship to be able to go and study painting (Arnason 134). History of Modern Art textbook says that he always had devoted much time to the questions between music and art (135).

When you look at Kandinsky's works, it seems that the strokes he made had a rhythmic lines, and colors to them. Picasso on the other, want you see is just all kinds of different size shapes mixing together. When I look at Picasso cubist work I tend to not be able to tell what it was he was looking at when he painted. If I don't read the titles of some of his works I would have never known it to be that.

Pablo Picasso was born in Spain in 1881. He achieved legendary status within his timelife, in which his career dominated three-quarters of the century (Arnason 155). He studied art since he was a child.