HH Arnason - Art Nouveau And The Beginings Of Expressionism (Ch. 04)

8/17/2019 HH Arnason - Art Nouveau And The Beginings Of Expressionism (Ch. 04)

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5Art Nouveau and theBegnnngs of Expressonsm

s Seen in chapters 3 and 4 te in d ic ws a�perio of synhesis in he a ime hen sssough new irecions a in hemselves consiued a

reacon agins he tide of "progress represened byndusrzation. At the sme me, the chiects iscussedn he preious chapter recognied ha new patterns of lfe

in he ndusial age caled for new types of b! gsbdges, rlroad saons and skyscapers The grea o

aors, suh as chardson ullan, o Macknosh wereable o raw slectiely upon older syles wthou resort

ing o academc pastiche and to eate om he passomethig new an auhenic for he present While theserchiects id no abndon raton her work constued a power countercrren o Beax-As sorcsm

At he same me, the serch of the ymbois poets

piners, d musicins for spriul alues wa� par ofthis reacton Gaugn used he term "shetism; o chaceie the liberatig color d lear explorations thathe pursued nd ranited o discples The phenomenllng abou his synlesizing spri is ha, in he lasdecades of he neteen ceny ad he rst of theteneth i became a grea popr moemen aeced the ase of ee1 par of he population in bohEope and he Ued taes This was he moementclled Ar Noueau, a French erm meng smply "newrt Art oueau was a denable sle ha emergedom he expeimens of pners, ariecs, crfspeople,and designers d for a decade permeated no oy pat

ing sculptre d architec·e, bu lso graphic dsign, magine d book iusaion, re, exles glassnd ceramc wares, jewery and een clohng the namemplies Ar oueau represened a rejecon of storical reiasm and acadec classicism and reected a conscious sech for new nd genuine forms ha were capableof eressng he moern age Is emphasis on elaboraeand icae decorae moi howeer, men tha i was rapidly superseded n he rs decade of he teniehceny by more racal forms of modern, machineage arand archiecre

Natural Forms for the Machine AThe Art Nouveau Aesthetic

A oueau grew out of he English As an moemen whose chief exponen and propagahe artis and poet Wa Mi (1834-96) (ser 4). The rs and Cras moemen eoled asagnst te new age of mechizaon a Romanon the par of Morrs nd others o implemen heophy of he inuenil cric J ol Rkn, who statrue rt shold be boh beaul and use andbase its forms on those found n naure (g The wold of le arscrsperson in he prodestrucion by mass producion and hey foug

retrn to some of he sdards of simplci ba

crsmnship hat tey associaed wh elier cenoably he Mddle Ages Irocly for hese socialers, i was oy the wehy in the end who couhe handcraed goods Te ideas of he rs an

moemen spread rapily hroughou Europe ansupport in he comparable eories of rench Belgian, and Austrian rss and wriers A key chac of he moemen was he concept of a synhesars based on an aestec of dynmc linear moMany nmes were gen to hs phenomenon in i mifesations but ulimaely Ar oueau bec mos generaly accepted probably hrough its usParisian shop and glery clled he Mison oueau, which, wh its exhibions and exensi ssions to ariss and arisans was inuenl in p ing e syle In Germany he erm "Jugndsl ostyle aer e perodic gnd becme le nam

In 80, i mus be remembered large qun mnsream pining sculpure, and arecte wbeing produced in acceped academ syles ustional metlods In conras o he s nd C ment At oueau made use of new maer mahine ecologies boh bildings and in deMoreoer tlough r oueau aiss could n


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.1 Wliam Mri, Detal of Pee wallaper, 1876Vitoria an Abert Museu, London

the iuence of past sles, they explored hose hat were less el knon d out of shion ih the crentacadeans They looked to meevl or Asin t formsor devices that ere congenil to heir sech for

absacon based on line rhyhms. Thus he liner J1quaies and decorave synthesis of eighteenh-cenuryrococo; the onderl ner nterlace of Celc and Saxonilumnaon nd jeelry the bold, at pattes of Japnese panings nd prnts (see g 222 the oate mois ofhnese nd apanese cemcs and jades ere all ed assorces for ideas The Art Nouveau arsts hle seekga kind of abstacon scovered most of the sources forheir decoraton n naure, espelly n plnt forms oengiven a symbolc or sensuous overtone They so reon scienc scoveries, such as the forms of moorgnisms that ne exploraons n botny and zoology ere

mng fmiar

Pantg and Grap hc AtIn the later orks of Seat nd s foloers (see chapter3\ lne took on an absact expressive cton Theforml innovations of Gauguin and of he Nabis ererooted in near as ell as color paern Toouse-Laurecreected (nd nuenced) the rt Nouveau spirit in his

panngs and pints, prcularly in his sube use ofdescripve, expressive line Through his highly popularosters (see g 329), aspects of Art Nouveau grphcdesign ere spread throughout the Western od hile

rt Nouveau in architecre as largely a phenomenon ofconent Eope, here ere many precursors of themovement n Engln d particularly in pn g The myscl visions of Wi Blake (757827; g 2,expressed in fntasc rhyhms of line nd color, ere anobvious ncestor, as ere the late highly decorve pintings of the Preaphaelite artst Dnte Gabrel ossett

The aings of he young Engsh artst AubeyBeardsle (872-98) ere immensely elaborate in theblackndhite slizaon and decotive 1chness (g53) ssociated ith he sotermed "aestheic or decadent terare of Osc Wilde and otherfind-siCce riters hey ere admred for ler beaut and condemned forheir sexual content They probably constte he mostsignicant contrbution of the Engsh to t Nouveaugaphic t Berdsley ke Edgr Aln Poe nd certn ofthe French Sybosts, as haunted by Romnc vsions ofeil, of the eroic, nd the decadent I tereddon imitaih sle in rawng appeed ll over Europe andmerca in populaizaons of rt Nouveau book illusra

ons and posters Bedsley based one of his illusraonsfor Wlde's 894 poem Salom on this aing, in hh!e stepdaughter of Herod hol up he severed head oft ohn he Bapst in a gese of grotesue erocsmi. One of he most inuenil ges in al the phases of

t Nouveau as the Belgian Henry va de Vd(1861957). Traned as a panter, he eventully producedabsact composions in ical Art Nouveau formlas ofcolor patterns and sinuous nes (g 54) For a me he

.2 Wlliam Blake, The e Re he oh h he S, 1805-0 Watecolo 1 6 X 13M"[4 X 33.5 em). Notional Galley of A, Waingto D.C.

CHAP 5 , ART OVEAU AD THE BEGIINGS OF XPSSIOISM 83


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5 Aby sey Salme with the Hed fjnthe Bptist, 18 93 In ink n wtecoo, 0\ X 5%"[27. 6 X 4. 6 m Abey Bsey Coection, Mnuscpsiiso, epmnt of Re oos n Spl Coetos,Pincetn Unes Liby Nw Jsey.

was nterested n mpressioism nd read wdely n te scienc heory of color and percepon He soon abandonedhs drection n vor of he Symbosm of Gugn nd sschool nd atemped to push hs expemens n sybocstatement rough abstract color eresson er thnhad any of hs contemporres Ultmatey Van de Veldecame to believe tat easel pang was a dead end and thatte soluon for contemporary soe was to be fond nhe idusrl ars Thoug sgcanly uenced byMorrs's theores ke the Engshmn he regarded he machne as a potenty postve agen that could "one daybrng forh bea producs. It was ly as n arc·

tet nd desgner at he made hs major contrbutrt Nouveau and he orgns of enecenry a

n Austra e new deas of Nouveau wereexpresson the foundng n 897 of he Venna Secand shorly hereafer, n ts pubcaon Vr S(Sacred Spg) Ths verse group was so nbecause t seceded from Vennas conservave exhsocet the Knserhaus, and opposed he inol

for new nnaturalst sles at he Academy of FneThe maor gure of he Secesson was Gtav(862-19) n mny ways e most tlented expof pre rt Nouveau stle n pnng mt waestablshed as a successl decore pnr nd faable portratis, noted for he brance ofh rsip, when he begn n t 890s to e awn sream of new European eermens He becmescous of Duch Symbolss such as Jn TooropSwss Symboist Fernand Holer, of e EngshRapaeites nd of Aubrey Berdsley (see g 28; se28, 53 Hs sle was lso formed on a s

Byznne moscs A passon for eroc themes led oy to the creaon of numerable rawgs senstexplct but also o he development of a panng snegrated sensuous nude ges wh brlany c

5 Heny n e le, Trpon, 8 99 Atsing 47 % 9W [ 1 1 X 7 4 m) Msem f Kns n GHmg

4 CHA E 5 1 A NVA AND GINNNG F XINIM


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55 Gstv Klmt el f iningm mul, Ps Stcletussel c. 190 8 Msic eme mrble

decoratve patterns of a rness rarey equaed n the history of modern art He was ncreasngly awn to mul paing; murals for the Uversity of Vienna involvedelaborate and compliated symbolic statements composedof volupous gures oang though an amorphous,atmospherc lmbo Those he ceated for the Palas Stoet,designed by Josef offman, in Brusses beteen 1905d 1910 (g see also g 1) are exeuted n glassenme met d semipreious stones They ombnedgures concived as lat patterns (exept for modled heads

and hnds) with an overall patte of abstract spirals-agtterng complex of volumeric forms embedded amosaic of jeweled and gilded patte Athough esseallydeorative i ther total effet the Stoclet murls mrkthe moment whenmoder� pantng was on the very edgeof nonrepresentaion Through s relationsip with the

younger Austran artt Egon Sle as wel throughhs own obsessive, somewhat morbid ad febrle eroism(g 6 I X 6 6178 . 1m X 2m rivte cllectin

CHR R NO VE U D H E E O XREIOM


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e Att MNell Wtlee c R 186 -7 ne: l

cl gl n tle lee n Ille i e FeeGe f AtWngn, DC

wch histler ced Harony in Bue and God On thesouh wal of he room he depiced o ghtng peacocks,one rch ad one poor, wch slyly uded to a pror�E ;edquare beteen e rtst and his patron. Leylnd, horesed to pay Whstler for a great deal of work on! heroom hat he had never comssioned, aly baed herascble ast om the house aer he nited the publicnd press to vie his creaon thout Leylnd's perssion The room was later acqred intact � y an mericancollector d s now housed n the Freer Gery of rt nWashingon, DC

It s dicut to speal of a sngle, ed Art Nouveau

se arctecture except n the rems of su orna ment and interor decoraon. Despite this fact, ceranaspects of achitecte derve from A Nouveau graphicart nd decorave or appled ats noably he use of te whiplash lne n ornament and a genery curvineremphasis n decorave nd even srucrl eemen Thert Nouveau sprit of imanave nvenon, lner ad spatial ow, and nonradionism fed the nspiraon of anumber of arctects in connena urope ad he UitedStates and enabled l1em to expement more freey ·heas opened up to them by the use of metal> glass> andreforced-concrete construcon Snce the concept of

At Nouveau involved a igh degree of specized desgnnd crasmanshp t d not lend itself to the developingeld of largescale mass consrucion However, it id contribute substntl to he outloo 1at was t lead to hese of a new and expermentl architectre in e erlyeneth century

The architectural ornment of Lous Suvan in heGuaran Trust Bulng (see g 412) or the Carson PirieScot store in Chicago was the pincp American manfestaon of he rt Nouveau spirit n rchtecture> nd acpable spt permeated he eary wor of Sulvn'sgreat sciple, rank Loyd Wright see g. 2) The

u Tfny, TleL, c 9nze n g, height68 6 , ete 84.7 LNu Ne k

outstang Amercn nme n rt Nouveau was Lo Comort Ti y 848-9), but his exprlay n he elds of inteior design nd decoratvenoably his table lamps, which combined he slze

u forms so pcl of t Nouveau wih his paFavre glass wch appeared hndmade lthoug dustiay mnufacred g 8 Tiffny was non close touch wth he uropean movements but exercised a considerable nuence on hem

n Span n Gau (852-926) was uas a student by a Romntc and Symbolst concept Middle Ages as a Golden ge, which for m dSpish arsts beme a symbol fo l1e risng natioof Catalona lso mplct Gaus achtecre werly sdy of natral forms as a spiil basis for arture He was drawn to the work of the nuen

86 APE : AR A AND HE ENNG EXNM


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chitct and horst Eugen mu Viollt-l-Duc

Th lattr w a lang proponnt of h Gohc vvland a passionat rstorr o mvl buildngs who

nalyzd Gohc archittural stuc n h light of mod

rn tchnicl advancs His wrigs on rchtc tr,

notaby his Bnetiens ("Dscussions), which appard

i Frnch, nglish, and Aricn ons in th 860s

and 870s wr wdy rad by ctcs His bold rc

ommndaons on th s of rct ml co nsucionuncd not o Gaud, but a host of ohr xprmnt

al ctcs at th nd of h nntnh cntry. WGa's arly chtctu blongd in part to th mn

crnt of Gohc Rviva, it invovd a gy iosyncrac

us of matris, prtclrly in t and colorisc

arrngmnt and n vn mor magativ prsonal stylin ornmntal onwork His wrought-ron dsigns wrarriv d at indpndny nd frquny n advanc of t

comprabl_ xprmns o mast am Art N ovau

hroughout his atr carr, f·n th lat 880s tm hsdath n 192, Gau followd his own con, wh at

st was pall to Art Nouvau and latr was indpndnt

of anthing hat w ing don in th wold or wold

don l h mdl o h nith cntry, whn hswork was rassssd

Gauds st major commission was to complt h

Church of h Sagrada alia Bclona (g 5.9),

alrady bgn as a Goi vval stucr by h actct

rncisco d a Gaud workd trminy on s

5 Ao Gad, Churh of the Sagrada Famili a Barclna 188 3 -92 6 .

CHAPER 5 o ART NVE AU AND B GINNINGS F EXPSIONIM 87


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chuch om 88 un s deah, leavin it fr from com plete even hen The man pats of the completed chuch, particuary he four geat spies of one nsept are oyremotely Gotc. though nuences of Mosh ndother rhitectra stles ma y be aced, he pnp eectis of a buding without istori steor rater one 1atexpresses e imagnaon of he arctect in the most perSonal nd powerl sense The decoation of e churchcontains a prosion of fntasy in biologic ornment owing into naturisic gation and absact decorationBrighty colored mosaic embeishes he ials of the spiresThese forms were not rbiy; they were ed to Ga'ssuct pcples and s oen hermec langage ofsymboc form informed by s spiitu beiefs To com

plete he church accorg to the arctects pns, enormous mot of consrucon has been undertkensince s deah and conues todLy.

At e Ge Pk in Barcelona (also ushed) Gau produced a demonsraton of sheer ntasy nd engieeingingenui a urrelist combiaion of landscapig nd

urban planig Ts giganc descendnt of he Rmanic,Goc-le English grdens of the eghteenth cenyis a mlnge of suously curving ws and benhes grotos, porcos, and arcades, l coveed wth brilliant mosa& ofbroken potery d gass (g 50 It exempesthes·ongy sclpt qu of Gauds chtece a qui that erentiates it om most aspects of Art Nouveau.He cmposed in terms not �f nes but of twsted masses ofscplly conceived masory Even s ronwork has asculpr heaviness hat rscen the sually aenuatedelegnce of Art No"veaU line

Gau designed 1e Casa aptment house, asucte ound open courts, as a whole connuos

ment of scuptal volumes The faade owing ahe two min elevaons, is aternaon of vod nd r mss The 1duating oof es nd he elabowsted cmney pots ca rough he unid scultheme ronwork grows over the bconies ike luexoc vegetaon The sense of orgc grow conin the oor pln, where one room or coridor owsot terrupon into ano1er Walls ae crved or athroughout, to create a feeling of everlsg chnspace wihout end In hs concept of chitectdynami space jog he inteior nd extern wodas iving orgism owng in a natural envionmentng engneeng experiments, in his imagave matelsom stone that look lie a natal rok fon to 1e most wlly absct color ozaiceramc mosicGau was a visionary d a great pi

f arctect mght c to be the foder Nouveau chtectre however, it is the Belgan

t 86-1947 Tred as an academcan, hisp·ed by Baroque and rococo concepts of near ment space, by s sdy of plnt grow and ofVleDus stctura theories and by he eneer GEfel (see g 42)

The t important comission ced out by \vas the houe of a Professor Tasse in Brusses, whsubstanlly advanced VoetleDus sctral hThe star ha g. 5 is an integrated hmony ofrhyms estabshed he busades of ornamentahe whiplash curves atop 1e captls he abesque d

5.0 o ud, Deal of rrog wll, el k, Baelo 004.

88 CH V D H GNNN G EXNM


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11 V rta Stawll f rr Tal u Brl. 1-3

on the wlls ad oor, d te wning steps Line i- (;1 umph over scptred mass as a multtude of ncltende elemets blend into an organic whole thatboldly exposes the supporng met stucre. In Horta'sMaso du Peuple, built in 1897-99 as he headquters ofe Begin Sociist Pary, and now desroyed the archtet worked for a clientele hat deprted om the usul

uppermdecass parons of his hoes The faade was acuta w of glass supported on a nmum of metlstuctura ames nd wrapped o1d the regurly curvig edge of a open plaza The audtoum teor eecvey becme a glass ecosue whch te ged

exposed ame girders formed rculated supports for hedouble cue of e ceig. The terior was give vrietyad nterest by the combao of vertc glass wsged metal stuts d a ope, uvg ceg, ad ingenerl acheved a hamonous uniy between ormentnd aculated structure

Many of the chef exmples of rt Nouveau rchitectueare to be found the designs of departmet stores dsimlar commercial bings The lrgescale deprmentstore was a characteristc development of the later nineteent cetuy, superseing te older tpe of smll shopad enosng te stl older form of te baar Thus it was

a form of buldng iout tadons, nd is ctos lenttemselves to citectue tat emphasied openessd spaal ow as we as ornate decorave backgoudshe faade of orta's depment store i Busses, !Innovaon (g 5.12), is a isplay piece of glss adcurvilinear metl supports Such department stores lkeSulivas Carso rie Scott store (1899904, sprag up l over Europe ad merica at e beginng of he

weneh cetuy her uiti purpose made temapproprate emboimet of the ew scoveries massconstucon: exposedmet d glass sucure ad deco

rave cery orta's desig was otable for it expressionof the teor o te glass skn of the exteor so tat hethee oors wit a t cen "nave and lnkig, fostory side sles re articulated in e ade

My istiguished rchtects were associated wit rtNouveau i oe contex or nother but few of teir worksca be idened wih th syle to the sme degree asHortas he stations desiged by Hector Gurd(8671925) for he Pis Mopota (subway) c be

cosidered pure rt Nouveau perhaps because hey wereless rchitecr suues th decove signs or symbolsGumd's Mo staos were costucted for the enorm� us xposito Unverselle 900 out of prebricated�rs of cast ro d gass At odds wih e prevaig

5 Vc Hrta, A !'Invat dpartnt Br 10 1. Dtr b fr 67

CAP 5 ' ART NVAU AND T BGNNINGS f XSSIONIM 89


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taste fo classcsm, they created a sensaon n Pas, caus ing one ctc to compe hem t o a agony's wngs. Hsennc fo the ote Dauphne staon (g 513) s a eexmple of an ognal Gmd cnopy s inct ·

sd� om he elaboate "sea hose onament on itsad, the Atele Elva by g de 87-2) n Much g 514) s a elavely smple nd austeestucte Howeve, detals of the teo, notably he staall; conue the decate dulaons of t Nouveau

5 us de Aee v Muic 8 7

5 Heo Gumre o e oreuhe Moo s o s 11

The is Stoclt n Busses g 515) by the Aschtect J 8709), s a atwectngua stce, lhough he nngoom mKmt see g and he nteo isgs nd daons epesent a pcal At Nouveau syness of dave accessoies Hoffmns st absact lanuacose to the elegant geomety of the Vennese ugenschoo thn he ouishes of the elgn At Nouveauely belongs the context of woks such as

55 Josef Hofm Ps Se rsses 1

! : V ND H GNNG F XM


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Wag ner's Psl Savings Bnlc n Vienna and he are

re f Peer Behrens, AdLs Jseph Maria Olbrih,

nd vn de Velde ll sussed n haper 12 (see gs. 129,

210 1211, 212, 1213)

oward Expressionism:Lte Nineteenth-Century Pinting

beyond ranceIn espe i is appren ha J ugendsil was as impnf he new ideas i evked in painers f he era as fr he

immediae impe given rhies and designes wrkingdiey in n Nvea sle The Nrwegin Ed

_ Munh wh had a sizable impa n Germn Expressism; he Swiss Ferdinand Hdler; he Belgin Jmesns a prgenir f Surreaism; nd he ssin Vilyndinsk ne f he rs absra iss, ll grew p inhe envirnmen f Jugendsl r r Nveau lhughsme f he aiss is sein fed heir highly indi vidu syles in espnse adved renh hey lsdrew exensively frm he wn ll risi rains.

SandnavaBy 1880, a he ime Edvd Mc (863-944) began sdy paing serisly, Osl (hen Krisia) Nway,had a numbe f amplished paners d a degree f parnage fr heir wrks B he adin was lgelyaadei ed in he renh Ran Realism f heBarbin Shl d in Germa lyr naurism in pbeause Nwegin piners usually rained in Germany Inrisinia Munh was par f a radil grp f bheminers d piners wh wrked n a nars mde

Thks shlrships ned by le Nrwegn gv


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5.7 ha Krg e , 880 -8 O o wd40 X 2 2 [0 9 8 ) ajalgalee Osl

which the sybolc content is most explict, are character ized by te sinuos constty movng, curvng neof Art Nouveau, combed h color drk in hue butbrant in intensi. Iluences o Gauguin and heNabis are present n hs work of is period The axeiestat plagued Mch were equenly given a more generaland ambiguous though no less fghtening, expression

e Sream (g

8 is an agonized sriek translated intobnds of color at echo like sound waves across the land

scape and tough he blood-red sk he age has issorce in Munch's experence As he waed aoss a bridge wi1 iends at sunset, he was seized i despr and "felta great inte scre pass rough nare e Sreame artists best-known and most dely reproduced agehas become a ar smbol of moder e andaenaon

Mch was emergng as a painter at the moment whenSigmund Freud was developing heories of psychoanalysis His obsessions ¥t sex, deah and woma as a

destucve force seem at mes o provide cssic exof e problems Freud was explorg. In mny worDane oL among em (g 9 Munch trste moon and is long reecon on he water tolic symboL The Dane o Lie beongs to a largMunch called he Frieze of e which contaedis major painngs (includng The ream addresscn·l temes of love sexa axiet, nd deah T

ject of tis p�ng based on Munch's roubled pistory of love and rejecon was in step wih internrens in Symbolst art

Mch ws one of te major grapic rtssene centuy, and lke Gauguin, he took a verymental approach to printmaking nd contributerevival of he woodcut medium He begn maln

ings nd lithographs in 1894 and for a me was pri interested in using he media to resdy subjec pnted earler he prn however were never reproducons of the panngs In each cse he ree heme n terms of e new meu, som

execung te same subject in rypoint, woodcuography, and varying each of ese as eah was mom e pang For Vampire (g 2 Muncan ngenious method he had inveted for bypassteous pnmaking process of color regisaon

involves kng seprate aeas of e woodblock fcolor and panstangly aligning e sheet for eve

dvard Mch The a 8 93 Ol ad pard 3% 9 [908 X 737 ajalgallre

92 CHAP • AT NOUVA A TH ,BGNNGS OF XRSIOM


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5 dvar Munh, Dce o , 1900. Ol on canva 4' I J' X 63W(126 X 19 m) Naonalgallerit, Oo.

(one for each color) through the press. Munch simplysawed hs block nto secons, nkd each secon separateynd assembed hem ke a puzze for a sngle prngIn Vampire he acaly combned hs technque whlthography to make a "combnaon prnt Through hese nnovave technques, Munch gaed rch graphc eects,such subly texed pattes (by explong he roughgran of he woodbock, and ansucent passages of colorHs magery aeady expored n several drawngs and pntngs made n Berln s pcay ambguous We theredheaded womn cod be embracng her over he om-nous shadow hat ooms above them and he le of he work mpy sethng far more snster

Nothe ad Cetal EuopeThe Swss arst Ferdd Hoe (1853-1918 also1new he rages of sckness and deah nd, ke VGogh, had dergone a mor crss n he wake of deeprlgous commment n hs pangs he avoded the rbuent ama of eer Rmanc eressons d sought stead :ozen stness spareness and prty the betterto evoke some sense of the un wn the apparen conson and compex of the word of experence cbe sceed n the famous Nht (g .21), where thesces nd voes of nae have been descbed nexactng deta, controled by n equaly tense con


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5.2 Frda H, Ngt 990 Ol caas 3' 9%" X 9 9" ( X 3 m. Ksmsm r.

organizaon he aris caed "paraesm. in Mtch'sThe Scram) he magey n Nht was an expression ofHers own obsessive fea The cena gure? whoawaens o fd a shouded ph couched above m,is a sef-porai, as is he man a he upper gh, we he women n he foregound e epcons of s misess exwife The paining was banned from exibion Geneva n 89 as indecen, bu encounered a bereepon when i was ae sho in Paris

Jaes Eso 860949, whose ong ife was amosexacy conempory wih unchs, ered om heNorwegian n beg he heror of one of he grea aons uopean aha of Femish and Duch pang The consciousness of s heriage even compeed o assume om me o ime, hough haf saricay heappearance of Rubens (g ), and i i obeeve a he coud have conceived s picoa fanasies whou nowedge of he aemedeva wors of Hieonmus Bosch despi s deas) and Pieer Brueghe heder Ouside of a hreeyer perod of s a he yaAcademy of ne s in Brusses, nsor spen s en in s nave Osend, on e coas of Begium, where hisemsh moher and her reaves kep a souvenir shop led w oys, seashes, mode ships in boes, crocery, and,above , he groesque nss popuar a emish carnivas

By 88, nsor coud produce such accompished radiiona Reisomnc painngs ha he was acceped

in he Brusses Son ad by 88 in he Pas Saon Hsappoach was aeady changing, however, wih he inoducon of bru or mocng subjec maer, hsyauhenc pices of mserabe, en amps and nex

pcabe meegs of mased res Scandazed Mask, forinsance, shows a famia seng, he corne of a room vha mased ure sig a a abe noher msed ureeners hrough he open door The msed gures obviousy deve om he emish carvas of pop aon,bu ere, isoaed in he grm surroundngs, 1ey cease obe merey msed mumers. The mas becomes he reai, and we fee invoved in some communon of monsers

Ts oubg and fanasc picure reveas inensi caof he ss iner mood of srbnce In any evhe new wors dd no pease he judges of he BSaon, and n 884 nsors enries were rejeced

nsors mau·e pnings si have he capacy o shHe was somehng of an eccenc nd much aece

522 Jams Es Porta- f the AU5t Sune by M05 99 O

o caas X 3 ( 9 X 0 m)

r Msm ch, aa

94 CPR 5 · ART NV AN EGNNNG Of EXPRN


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et ee-cenu·y Romaicism and Symbos� , evideti is passioat e devotio to e tes of Poe ad Balzac,te poems of Baudelre, ad he work of several cotem porary Belgian iters. He serched he ado of tasc pnting nd graphic art for inspiraioom hetormeted visions of Matas GrUewd and Bosch toGoya. Esor was ter affected by Daumier and s soialcommentries (see gs 14 1 , the book iusratorGusve DorC, Red o, ad he decadet erotc magery ofhe Belgn arst Ficie ps.

Durig he ate 1880s Esor ed to relgous subjects, frequetly te torments of st They re not nter preted i a arrowy religio sese, but are rater a

persol resio for a world of inhumniy tat auseated Ts feeg as given its est expressio hemost important panng of s caee, Enry of Chrsino Bruss in 1889 (g . a work om 188889 atdepics the assion of hrst as the center of a cotemporry lemish kers, or carval, smptomac of he indifference, spiy, and veay of e mode worldEsor desibes is grotesue tumult of humy tldissoat color, compressng e crowd into a vast yetclausrophobic spce Given he eormous size of Enry ofChris( is over elve feet, or 3 m, wide, it hasbee suggested hat Esor painted it n response toerats L and ]a (see g 31 which had beenmuch herded at an exhibito i Brussels i 1887 Wehe rench paitig was a moder celebraon of midleclass le, Eso's was a ictment of it The gue of

hrist, brely visible in the ba of he crowd was probaby based o the rists ow keness. Ts conceittherst as pesecuted maras beig expoited byGaugn i Britan at _rtly le same tme By extesion, Esors deous crowd refers t he ignorant tiesof Os ed, who greeted his work wih icomprehesio

Eve members of a more ber exibig goup ofBrussels, caled LEssor, ere somewhat neasy aboutEsors new pantngs Ts led in 1884 to a wihrawal ofsome mmbes, nluing Esor, to form te progressivesociey es (The Twe) or may yeas he sciety

was to suppot aspects of the ew t in Brusses Athoughit exhibited Mnet, Seat, Van Gogh, Gaugui, ad Toouseauec, ad exerted n inuece n he spreadof No-Impessioism and Art Nouveau, hosly toEnsors iceasigy fantasc panings grew eve there.h Enry of Chris was resed adssio and was ever

publily exibited before 199 The artist himself wassaved om expulsio om he goup oy by s ow vote

Dug he 1890s Ensor focused much of s taletfor ivecive on tle tagonists of his panngs, equenly

with devastaig rests Some of most brat andarrowng works were produced at ts ime. The masksappered at regulr intervas, occasionly becomingaricry persoa, as in Porrai of h Ar urroundd Masks (see g 522) a paig in wh he porrayed

imsef te mnner of Rubens's selfporatswthdebonair mustache ad beard, plumed hat, ad pierigglance dected at he spectator The work is renscent of

3 Js nsor Entry of Chis it Buel 1889 888-89 Ol on cnv, 8' " X 2 2 6 X 8 J. Pl Ge M Mb

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I '

I

,

. iI I

I' i •. ,I

I;

'I , : il ·-

524 rnold Bcln, Il of De 880. O\;n wood, 9 X 48 (737 X 1 ) Te Mropoln Ms of , ew Yor

an earlier 1883 self-portt by Ensor d, in a curiousway of a pntng y Hieronym Bosch of Cistsurounded by s tormentors (here, Ensor's riics): hepersonicaton of Good, isolated by Evl bt neveroverwhelmed.

The cestors of wenehcentry Surreaism can o

be found a o of artss who emerged n rmnseakg Europe dung e Symbost era BKnger, nd Kub The eldest of hese was AnoldB i (1827 190 bo in Base� educated Dssedorf ad Geneva and hen resident Ily untl eend of his lfe Le so many others whn contemporyGerm cultre BOcln fell prey to he classica dremwch prompted him to pant wih brutl almostgrotesque acadec ealsm such myhca begs as cenaurs and mermds withing in battle or i some sexalcontest beeen a hapess, depleted mle and n extantmm atal. ne of s most hauning images, especilly

for later painters like Giorgio de Chrico and theSureaiss came to be caled Island oth Dad (g 54)a scene depcing no known relity but universlly appealing to e late Romantc and Symbolst maginaon. Withits ucanny sllness its ghostly wtecowled gre, nd is

eere moonight luminang rocs and the entatombs aganst the deep mysteriously resonant bugreens of s wate and tal melancholy cprespicte proded spiration not oy for subspainters but lso for numerous poets d compose

he Geman tist Max lnger (18790

homage to Bclin by mang pns aer severapanngs including sland th Dad. Kinger known for a tenpart cyce of prins entited Awhose sense of ftasy may owe sometng to thsster imaginings of Goya. he Czech arllusrator Aled Kubin (1877199 proved capphantasms well in excess of those fod in the t oOcin or Kger Indeed, he may be compaeedn hough s obsession wth womanasdetmes places him alongsiden-dsicl atists e well as tcpating he Freudin world of SuKubn was to become a menber of Kandinsys

circle and in 191 he joined a set of briliepermental tsts in Germy clled Der Bauee Blue Rider Mewhie n 909 he pubsiustated novel entled Othr Sd, oen regaa progetor of the hlucatoy cions of ranz

96 CHAP TER 5 ' NOUV A AND H BGNG XRM


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Documents

HH Arnason - Art Nouveau And The Beginings Of Expressionism (Ch. 04)