Summary of Fauvism and Expressionism - Book Report/Review Example

The paper "Summary of Fauvism and Expressionism" discovers such movements as Fauvism and Expressionism. At the same time, colors are often vivid and shocking. This essay seeks to summarize the works of Edvard Munch, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky and August Marc on Fauvism and Expressionism. Each of these artists had their own unique way of expressing their emotions in their art. Through their conflict with the urban world of the early twentieth century, Expressionist artists invented a powerful style of social condemnation in their winding figural bold colors and renderings.

Their paintings of the modern world incorporated estranged people of the society. This was a significant topic of the society by that time. Their paintings majorly commented on capitalism's role in the emotional distancing of individuals within a society. Norwegian printmaker and painter Edvard Munch was the pioneer of the German Expressionist movement. His most popular work the 'Scream’ presented deep psychological concepts in a symbolic manner. Munch developed his paintings in deep colors and semi-abstractions, which made his type of Expressionism absolutely unique.

The works by Munch drew heavily from the Fauvist approach. This enabled his paintings to present a universal and clear significance. Thus, his drawings, prints and paintings take on the eminence of psychological talismans. The paintings by Munch could alleviate any viewer’s psychological and emotional condition. Interestingly they were based on Munch’s personal experiences. . This explains that he did not only view sex as a symbol of physical and emotional liberation but presented his fascination with sex.

This type of art was common to Henri Matisse’s works. Matisse mostly painted nude subjects and this made his paintings unique with strong meanings and sophisticated implications about the society. Matisse engaged pure colors and the white of exposed canvas to create a light-filled impression in his Fauve paintings. Rather than using modeling to give volume and makeup to his pictures, Matisse used distinct areas of pure color. The human figure was common to Matisse's work both in painting and in sculpture (Arnason 133).

Its significance for his Fauvist projects reproduces his feeling that the subject matter was ignored in Impressionism and it is highly important to Expressionism. At times Matisse split the figure harshly, at other times he treated it almost as a decorative, curvilinear constituent. For example, Matisse’s 'The Red Studio' is an artwork where he presents illusionism and a clear figure-ground relationship. On the other hand, Edvard Munch’s resonant, somber color, as well as his depiction of the human figure in semi-abstract forms proved lasting stylistic and expressive hallmarks of Surrealism, Expressionism, Fauvism, and Symbolism.

Munch left a legacy of abstract painting on later painters in the United States and Europe. The most notable being the German Expressionist painter Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky was a member of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (Arnason 146). He is best known for his groundbreaking presentations into expressive abstraction in the year of 1913. The works of Kandinsky foreshadow that of the American Abstract Expressionists. He