Thinking Picture..

 To help me think and work out how I wanted to create my work this term, I worked on this painting, it is not completed however as I was doing this I knew exactly what I did and did not want to do for my paintings.

What I did like was the size of the canvas which was 10 X 12 inches this size worked well for me and so I will be ordering these online.  I primed the canvas and sketched prior to the painting and as I was doing this I realised I would like to create only black and white work so I will use a colour palette of greys.  I have now also have ideas about what each picture will be I will put up sketches of these shortly so that you can see what I intend.  

I obviously still need to work on my drawing/painting skills and I will share my practice with you as I go along.

Art Portfolio: Project Plan Expressionism and End of Times

 In this post, I will go through my project plan for the term for my project. This term as I am doing both art and media projects I have kept to the same theme for both end of times and using expressionism.

My SMART outcome is as follows:

This term I will use the theme of Expressionism to create six 2D pieces.  These will be created using drawing/painting.  I will probably use traditional methods however I may experiment using digital drawing as well. The concept for these pieces will be end times to reflect the world situation emulating the German Expressionists and their images of World War I & II. The final images will be scanned/photographed and digitised for the portfolio on my website.  

Why have you chosen to do this project?

I have chosen this project as I am very interested in the German expressionist and this period in history between the First and Second World Wars.  I believe that as we are now we are in a different kind of crisis with the pandemic there is similarities in the sense that the world will be changed because of this.  This pandemic has had major economic, social and societal effects and this has changed our future, particularly in the next few years.  I have stated the end times in my objective however I really mean changing times, a future disrupted and altered. I want to express this through this work. 

Who are you researching for this project? Please list at least three artists and/or designers and your additional research on your concept 

As stated in my previous post on initial research I will be looking at Otto Dix, George Grosz and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.  In terms of the concept of end times/changed times I will look at different theories that predict end times and theories on the outcome of this crisis.  

What techniques/skills are you developing/learning for this project?

The skills and techniques I will be exploring and hopefully, improving will be my drawing and painting skills, as I am a photographer I always want to improve these skills as I am not naturally talented in this area. Also, I am particularly interested in this style of drawing/painting and it appeals to my own sensibilities.  I would like to experiment with different mediums and I will see what suits the work and my burgeoning skills best!

What do you expect the final outcome of the project to be?

The final outcome will be a collection of six 2D drawings/paintings that I expect to show a consistent theme and colour palette (this is another area I will be experimenting with ) that will be placed in a gallery that best showcases this work on my website.

What have you completed so far for this project?

I have completed initial research on both concept and theme and through this plan, I aim to have set tasks to complete each week to ensure that the project moves forward and I have deadlines to meet.

What do you think will be the issues/drawbacks to the project?

The main issues I can see are my own drawing/painting skills and improving these sufficiently.  Also, the consistency of the pieces will be very important to ensure that this is a collection that will really come together. 

Obviously, my own skills just need practice and work.  The consistency and narrative through the pieces will need much more thought and consideration.

What is your timescale considering that this has to be completed by Week 10?

Week Three: Project Sign off and this plan!

Week Four:  To begin sketching and practice, to consider different color palettes and look at the narrative through the pieces

Week Five: To continue to sketch and start to work on the pieces.  Add further research and look closely at other artists techniques  

Week Six:  Continue to work on the pieces, aim to finalise at least one of these by this time 

Week Seven:  Further research and finalising at least 3 more of the pieces 

Week Eight: Look at website design and update, start to consider portfolio presentation.  Complete all pieces and photograph/scan these for the portfolio 

Week Nine: Quality check everything and write an introduction on the portfolio and complete ready for the deadline. 

What resources or materials will you need for this project?

The resources and materials I will need are cartridge paper, a set of pencils, charcoal pencils, acrylics, paintbrushes, palette, canvasses (possibly),  digital tablet with drawing/painting app

Draw a picture/Write a sentence/sketch a story/write a dialogue that captures the essence of your project

The passion I have will drive this work and through artistic expression, I hope to find a universal meaning that will touch the viewer 

Media: Visual Project Development & Research

 I have created an infographic on Visme to show a visual representation of my project development and research.  This can be viewed full screen here.  This is my development of ideas for a project using expressionist photography techniques.  I am hoping that this explains further how I plan to work on these ideas. 

Media: SMART Objective

 I have been developing my idea for my Media project as stated previously this needed to be in conjunction with my art project this term where I was using Expressionism.  However, here is an example of neo-expressionism by David Bowie - I will also be exploring neo-expressionism in my photography research.

Self Portrait (1978) David Bowie

SMART Objective

To create a collection of six photographic images that are Expressionist/Neo-Expressionist in style and are based on themes relating to the end times.  These images will be taken using a digital DSLR camera and the effects will be in-camera, Photoshop will only be used as quality control to ensure consistency throughout the project.  The final images will be added to my website in a new gallery.  These will be completed by the beginning of March. 

Media: Developing an Idea - Expressionist photography

 As I am working in both Art and Media classes and my project for Art is in Expressionism I have chosen to develop an idea using Expressionist photography for Media class. This will mean I will have a clear theme through both projects.

I began developing this by looking at Expressionist films of the 1920's as the idea of German expressionist photography was: 'art in which the image of reality is distorted in order to make it expressive of the artist's inner feelings or ideas.' (Tate 2021) 

Nosferatu (1922) was a seminal film of this era.  The film is loosely based on the book by Bram Stoker, Dracula.  The film uses light to create shadows that change in shape and size, also doorways and archways to frame the shots.  The sense of fear and anticipation of horror is palpable. In Sweden this film was banned for excessive horror, the ban was only lifted in 1972.  All known prints and negatives were destroyed of this film under a lawsuit by Bram Stoker's widow.  

Still from Nosferatu (1922) 

Max Schreck as Count Orlok, resting between takes on the set.

The Cabinet of Dr Calgari used similar techniques however many of the sets were made of paper and the shadows painted on the walls.  This was because electricity was in short supply and rationed after World War One so often beams of light had to paint on the walls and using strange camera angles to create the effects that he wanted. The story is fairly simple hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders. The final look of the film is truly trange and teh charaters look fantastic on this strange set. 

Still from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1920. Directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Courtesy of Kino International.

I also want to discuss here the photographs of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner as I am studying Kirchner's work in painting for Art, it is important to also look at the images that he took.  He was an avid photographer, in fact the only Expressionist painter who really took an interest in photography - which makes him a perfect study for this as I am creating both paintings and photography in Expressionism. Thie photograph below is quite surreal with teh sculpture of the woman mirroring the real woman in the forefront of the image.

Nina Hard, nude in full figure, putting on make-up, 1921, photograph, 17 x 12.5 cm, unsigned, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner,

Kirchner took thousands of photographs and I will explore these in much more detail in later posts.

In terms of devloping the ideas I think this is a good starting point to cosider how I can create Neo- Expresionist photographs.  

References 

Tate (2021) Art Terms: Expressionism [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/expressionism (Accessed 16/01/21)

Rima Shah Photography (n.d.) German Expressionism [Online] Available from: https://rimashahasphotography.weebly.com/german-expressionism.html (Accessed 16/01/21)

IMBd (1990-2021) The Cabinet of Dr Calgari [Online] Available from:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (Accessed 16/01/21)

IMBd (1990-2021) Nosferatu [Online] Available from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013442/trivia (Accessed 16/01/21)

Apollo Magazine () Kirchner: The Painter as Photographer [Online] Available from: https://www.apollo-magazine.com/art-diary/ernst-ludwig-kirchner-the-painter-as-photographer/ (Accessed 16/01/21)

Initial Research: Expressionism & War

 Following the last post let's look more closely at Otto Dix who I discussed briefly in a previous post but who will be an important influence in my project work. I will look at the biography here of Dix as this is integral to his work and his experiences in the War. 

Otto Dix

Otto Dix was born in 1891, Dix always showed an interest in Art and studies at Saxon School of Arts and Crafts. Here he was influenced by many other artists however he stated that his greatest influences were Goethe, Nietzsche and The Bible.  Dix signed up for war after Arch Duke Ferdinand was assassinated and in 1915 he was assigned to a machine-gun unit on the front line.  He was wounded several times throughout the war. In August 1918, he served in Flanders where he took a nearly fatal wound to the neck.  During the war, Dix kept a diary and a sketchbook and this became the basis for 50 prints that he created just called - The War.  (Dix 2009).

Later in life Dix was married and became a professor at the Kunstakademie in Dresden.  he stayed here until the Nazi rise to power in 1933.  Dix was stripped of his professorship and his work was displayed at the Degenerate Art Museum in Munich. They were later destroyed. Dix went to live quietly just painting landscapes and refused to leave Germany, he was conscripted to war again in the latter half of WWII but was captured and spent most of this in a French Prisoner of War camp.  He died in 1969 and continued to make art until his death. (Dix 2009).

Wounded soldier - Autumn 1916, Bapaume

By Otto Dix

Der Krieg; #6

This is one of the prints created from his sketchbook from World War I.  Here you can see the horror and pain almost screaming from the man's face.  Terrible wounds look as if the man's stomach is just a black hole, his arm askew at an unnatural angle. Dix stated: 'For years, [I] constantly had these dreams in which I was forced to crawl through destroyed buildings, through corridors through which I couldn’t pass. The rubble was always there in my dreams.' (Tate 2021) Dix created these pieces using the corrosive processes of etching and aquatint mediums in which acid etches a metal printing plate—to heighten the sense of decay.

Corpse in barbed wire - Flanders
By Otto Dix
Der Krieg; #16

Why look at these images in relation to my project?  The World Wars at the beginning of the 20th Century we're in a time of crisis, uncertainty and destruction and horror.  The after-effects of both wars are what we are living today.  These wars determined our future.  This time that we are in now will determine another future.  It seemed to me before the Covid 19 crisis that technology was making people more isolated and lonely with less real social contact and now we all are avoiding social contact and working remotely.  This will have a profound effect on the future - I don't believe everything will just 'go back to normal' there will be a new normal.

George Grosz

George Grosz also enlisted in the military in World War I (as did Adolf Hitler) as he thought it would be good for his artwork.  He did not foresee with the latest in military technology the utter horror he would face - these experiences haunted him for the rest of his life.  While Hitler was rising to power Grosz use his art to create satirical images of the radical right-wing and to show the public what they were capable of.  When Hitler came into power Grosz and his wife and children had to flee to New York to escape death threats from the Nazis.  He left just in time a few days later the Nazis raided his home and studio. Gros believed that the most important thing an artist could contribute to the world was social criticism

George Grosz (1926) Pillars of Society (detail) 

This image features high standing people in society who supported Fascism including; politicians, clergy, businessmen and in the background the military generals.  The figures are ugly, self-satisfied and arrogant as they take over society and watch others suffer who oppose them. 

George Grosz, Remembering, 1937, oil on canvas

The above image Grosz created after he had gone to visit his home country, Germany in 1936.  This self portrait expresses his anxiety horrified by what he saw and could see that Germany was heading for another war; Grosz stated; 'I could not explain exactly what was really troubling me. But after I had returned to the States, my paintings became prophetic. I was compelled by an inner warning to paint destruction and ruins; some of my paintings I called ‘Apocalyptic Landscapes,’ though that was quite some time before the real thing took place.” (MIA 2021)

Grosz used oil painting, sketching, and mixed media in his work and he continued to paint throughout his lifetime, although he never regained his prewar renown. Grosz died in 1959, he had returned to Germany after the war but struggled with drinking which led to his death. 

Considering Grosz and his work, it reminds me very much of John Heartfield who also raged against the right-wing and Hitler before he came to power and who also fled to the USA.  These artists should make us consider what our role in society is and should we involve ourselves in social criticism? Is it our duty as visual artists to reflect the world back at itself?

I have looked at these two artists in relation to concept and to some extent technique however, I think I need to look more at technique and how I will really learn the technique.  As seen from my previous posts I was looking at Kirchner, I enjoy Kirchner as I think it looks simple, and yet I do not think that it really is.  The painting looks naive and childlike at times but there is a depth to the images - as shown below.  The artist uses rapid brush strokes and bold colours. 'He sought to distil his subject matter into what he termed ‘primordial’ signs; the bold, pared-down vocabulary of line and form evident in such works as Self-Portrait with Model (1910; Hamburg, Kunsthalle).'(Elan Vital n.d) I liked this idea of simplicity, boldness, and the line as I think that I might be able to achieve something like this in my own work.  The next steps I will take will be to start practicing the technique. 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Self-Portrait with a Girl; Double Portrait with Erna, 1914–15.

References 

Otto Dix (2009) The Online Otto Dix Project [Online] Available from: https://www.ottodix.org/ (Accessed 16/01/21) 

Tate (2021) Five Things to Know About Otto Dix [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/lists/five-things-know-otto-dix (Accessed 16/01/21) 

MOMA (2021) Otto Dix: Der Krieg [Online] Available from: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/63259 (Accessed 16/01/21) 

Lane M.M (February 2020) History.net: The Artist who dared to take on the Nazis from their earliest days [Online] Available from: https://www.historynet.com/the-artist-who-dared-to-take-on-the-nazis-from-their-earliest-days.htm (Accessed 16/01/21) 

Jonathan 5485 (22/01/2011) My Daily Art Display: The Pillars of Society by George Grosz [Online] Available from: https://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/the-pillars-of-society-by-george-grosz-3/(Accessed 16/01/21) 

Lackman J. (01/07/2010) Art News: His Own Best Critic [Online] Available from: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/his-own-best-critic-327/ (Accessed 16/01/21) 

Elan Vital (n.d.) Elan Vital [Online] Available from: https://elanvital.omeka.net/items/show/18 (Accessed 16/01/21) 

SMART Objective: Art Portfolio Project

SMART Objective: The End Times

Gas Victims (Templeux-de-Fosse) August 1916, Otto Dix

This term I will use the theme of Expressionism to create six 2D pieces.  These will be created using drawing/painting.  I will probably use traditional methods however I may experiment using digital drawing as well. The concept for these pieces will be end times to reflect the world situation emulating the German Expressionists and their images of World War I & II. The final images will be scanned/photographed and digitised for the portfolio on my website.