KOFORIDUA TECHNICAL

UNIVERSITY
ASPIRES TO BECOME A VIBRANT CENTRE OF LEARNING AND RESEARCH
A Catalyst for Development and Economic Growth for Ghana
BTECH GRAPHIC DESIGN
HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN – BGD119
Session 1
 WITH
MR. JUSTICE KORANTENG
CONTACT: [email protected]
 Session Overview
The course introduces students to the historical developments
of Graphic Art. Key areas to cover includes; The 20th Century Art
Movements (Bauhaus, Constructivism, Expressionism,
Impressionism, Cubism, etc.), Humanism, Renaissance,
History of printing (Advertising, Photography, Packaging,
Poster, Lettering, etc.), among others
 Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

1. Defining Expressionism Movement

2. Key characteristics /Features of Expressionism
3. Expressionist Artists
 What is Expressionism?
Expressionism is an artistic movement that originated
in Germany in the early 20th century.
§ It emphasizes the artist's subjective emotions and
inner experiences rather than trying to depict
objective reality.
§ Expressionist artists use distortion, exaggeration,
and symbolism to convey their feelings and ideas.
What is Expressionism?
§ It wasn't confined to just one medium, but rather
took hold in painting, literature, music, theatre, and
even architecture.
§ Fuelled by anxieties of the modern world,
Expressionism emphasized emotional intensity and
distortion.
§ Artists like Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh
used powerful brushwork, vivid colours, and
exaggerated forms to evoke inner turmoil and
psychological depth.
Key Characteristics of Expressionism
1. Emphasis on emotion:
§ Expressionist artists are not interested in painting
what things look like;
§ They are interested in painting what they feel.
§ They use their art to express their own personal
anxieties, fears, and joys.
 Key Characteristics of
Expressionism CONT’d
2. Distortion and exaggeration:
§ Expressionist artists often distort the shapes and
forms of objects in order to emphasize their
emotional impact.
§ They may also use exaggerated brushwork or
colour to create a sense of energy and movement.
 Key Characteristics of
Expressionism CONT’d
3. Symbolism:
§ Expressionist artists often use symbols to their
emotions and ideas.
§ For example, a red sky might symbolize anger or
violence, while a blue sky might symbolize peace
and tranquility.
 Key Characteristics of
Expressionism CONT’d
4. Primitive forms:
§ Expressionist artists often draw inspiration from
primitive art, which is characterized by its
simplicity and directness.
§ They may use bold colors, simple shapes, and flat
forms to create a sense of rawness and immediacy.
 Key Characteristics of
Expressionism CONT’d
5. Social Awareness:
§Many Expressionists were deeply affected by the
tumultuous times of the early 20th century, with World
War I looming large.
§Their art often became a platform for social
commentary, criticizing societal ills and injustices.
 Key Characteristics of
Expressionism CONT’d
6. Subjectivity:
§ Forget about capturing an objective view of reality.
§ Expressionists were all about their own unique
perspectives and interpretations.
§ Think of it as art born from the artist's soul, not a
camera lens.
Expressionism Sampled Works
Categories of Expressionism
 French Expressionism

§ In France, the main artists often associated with

Expressionism were Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin,
and Henri Matisse.
§ Though Van Gogh and Gauguin were active in the
years slightly before what is regarded as the main
period of Expressionism (1905-1920),
 French Expressionism CONT’d
§ They can without a doubt be regarded as Expressionist artists,
who were painting the world around them not simply as it
appeared to them, but from a deeply subjective, human
experience.
§ Matisse, Van Gogh, and Gauguin used expressive colours and
styles of brushwork to depict emotions and experiences,
moving away from realistic depictions of their subjects to
how they felt and perceived them.
 German Expressionism
§ In Germany, Expressionism is particularly associated with
the Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter groups.
§ German Expressionism art took inspiration from mysticism, the
Middle Ages, primitive times, and the philosophy of Friedrich
Nietzsche, whose ideas were immensely popular and influential at
the time.
§ Brücke was formed in Dresden in 1905 as a bohemian collective of
expressionist artists opposing the bourgeois social order of Germany.
 German Expressionism Cont’d.

§ They chose their name, Brücke, to describe their

desire to bridge the past and the present.
§ The artists attempted to escape the confines of
modern middle-class life by exploring a heightened
use of colour, a direct, simplified approach to form,
and free sexuality in their work.
 Austrian Expressionism
STAGE 3
§ Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka
Focus on articlesare
thatthe two main figures of
Austrian Expressionism. will enable you to
formulate your
§ They were especially influenced
researchby their predecessor Gustav Klimt,
question/
problem clearly
who also had a hand in launching their careers due to exhibitions
he created showcasing the best STAGE of2 contemporary Austrian art.
Focus on articles that contain key words and
§ Both Expressionist artists lived
information in the
relevant contradictory
to your inquiry Vienna of the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, where moral repression and
sexual hypocrisy played a part in the development of
Expressionism art there.
 Austrian Expressionism Cont’d.
§ Schiele and Kokoschka eschewed this moral hypocrisy and
portrayed topics such as death, violence, longing, and sex.
§ Kokoschka became known for his portraits and his capacity
to reveal the inner nature of his sitters, and Schiele for his
raw, almost brutally honest portrayals of aloof yet
desperate sexuality.
 The end of Expressionism,
and its continuation Cont’d.
§ Several expressionist artists lost their lives during World War I,
or as a result of the war due to traumas and illness.
§ Franz Marc fell in 1916; Egon Schiele died during the 1918
influenza epidemic, and many others took their own lives after
breaking down under the traumas of the war.
§ Finally, the era of German Expressionism was extinguished by
the Nazi dictatorship in 1933.
 The end of Expressionism,
and its continuation Cont’d.
§ Countless artists of the time, among whom were Pablo Picasso,
Paul Klee, Franz Marc, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Edvard Munch,
Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin, were labelled
as “degenerate artists” by the Nazis and their Expressionist artworks
were removed from museums and confiscated.
§ Yet Expressionism continued to inspire and live on in later artists
and art movements.
§ For example, Abstract Expressionism developed as an important
avant-garde movement in the post-war United States in the 1940s
and 1950s.
 The end of Expressionism, and its
continuation Cont’d.
§ The Abstract Expressionists renounced figuration and instead explored
colour fields, gestural brushstrokes, and spontaneity in their art.
§Later, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, Neo-Expressionism started
developing as a reaction against the Conceptual art and Minimalist art of
the time.
§Neo-Expressionist artists were greatly inspired by the German
Expressionists who came before them, often depicting their subjects in a
raw manner with expressive brushstrokes and intense colours.
§Famous Neo-Expressionist artists include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anselm
Kiefer, Julian Schnabel, Eric Fischl, and David Salle.
Reading Assignment
Unveiling the Depths of Emotion: A Comparative Look at
Expressionist Masterpieces

§ The Scream by Edvard Munch (1888)

§ The Bridge at Arles by Vincent van Gogh (1893)
§ Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso (1907)
§ The Dance by Henri Matisse (1910)
Thank You