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The
Color
of Anger
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
May 6, 1880-June 15, 1938
Painter/Printmaker - Expressionist - Germany
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Ernst
Ludwig Kirchner spent most of his life making people uncomfortable.
He gouged and marked his intense feelings of protest onto paper,
canvas, woodblocks and sculptural forms. He protested war with
angular vulnerable figures packed in tight spaces. He expressed
male domination and sexual prowess with erotic female nudes. He
emphasized uninhibited behavior with coarse lines and blunt colors.
Kirchner had adopted his broad patches of color and a Fauve palette
after exposure to non-Western Sculpture and Matisse's work and he
incorporated an expressive beauty in the lines and shapes of his
anger. But he wanted more.
At the height of the German Expressionist movement, he and three other
intense young men formed the extremely radical Die Brücke (The
Bridge) to protest mediocrity in art and society. He finally had
a complete mental breakdown and, after recovering, began to create
again. This time, he used bright colors and geometric patterns in
an in-your-face kind of way -- not unlike today's graffiti artists but
on smaller surfaces. Stressing self-empowerment, he delivered his
message of "cultural liberation, sexual prowess, aesthetic
achievement." The champions of established good tastes were not
amused.
So, today for Ernst Kirchner, be sexual, be uninhibited, be shocking
even. Create a statement in protest of something which steams
you. Create a statement which will make your viewers
uncomfortable.
Spray cans are allowed! |
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All
words and images © 1998-2006 Annette Adams Bush |
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