Expressionism, although encompassed all of Europe before the outbreak of the war, specifically refers to the post World War I artistic movement in Germany in the early 1920s. More appropriately coined “German” Expressionism emphasized subjectivity and spontaneity of emotions, radically different from the objectivity of Realism, and often characterized with alteration of reality by distortion, vivid colors, and exaggerated lines. The styles of expressionism were forefathers of the development of modernism, yet their principles were anti-modernist: the city was depicted as dangerous and sinful, and for Germany as a response to the war, was anti-fascist, anti-Aryan, and anti-naturalism.
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| Nolde, Emil. The Three Kings. 1913. | Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban. Adoration of the Wise Men. Circa 1650. |
Post-war, the “discontent” fired into full hostility against such “deluded sense” and pushed art to what the generation would consider “true reality,” depicting the world as it is: dark and violent, of death and decay.…were angered and repelled by the all too contradictory aspects of feudal aristocracy, economic expansionism and unquestioning belief in scientific progress, regression into ultra-nationalism and a deluded sense of global mission, inner consolidation of the young Reich with its aspirations to world power, the sanctification of the status quo entailed in "education and property," and hectic industrialization's disruptive impact on established social structures.
We associate the influences of German Expressionism most notably with the cinema, specifically what the French film critics termed “Film Noir.” However, the German film industry did not share in the early development of the movement. It was only until the World War had escalated that the industry could easily capitalize on those feelings of anger and repulsion. However, due to the great post-war economic depression, film budgets were minimal, resulting with filmmakers using symbolic and stylized scenarios and clever manipulation of lights to create mood.
With the rise of the Nazis, the anti-fascist quality of expressionist films were censored, and filmmakers were forced to flee Germany to the United States, where they mark the beginnings of Film Noir in America.
