A Bird in the Hand - Art Gallery of Alberta

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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt Styles - ExpressionismExpressionism refers to an aesthetic style of expressionin art history and criticism that developed during the late19th and early 20th centuries. Artists affiliated with thismovement deliberately turned away from the representationof nature as a primary purpose of art and broke withthe traditional aims of European art in practice since theRenaissance.Expressionist artist proclaimed the direct rendering ofemotions and feelings as the only true goal of art. Theformal elements of line, shape and colour were to be usedentirely for their expressive possibilities. In European art,landmarks of this movement were violent colours andexaggerated lines that helped contain intense emotionalexpression. Balance of design was ignored to conveysensations more forcibly and DISTORTION becameEdvard MunchThe Scream, 1893an important means of emphasis. The most importantforerunner of Expressionism was Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Van Gogh used colour andline to consciously exaggerate nature ‘to express…man’s terrible passions.’ This was the beginningof the emotional and symbolic use of colour and line where the direction given to a line isthat which will be most expressive of the feeling which the object arouses in the artist.The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was also extremely influential in thedevelopment of expressionist theory. In his career Munch explored the possibilities of violentcolour and linear distortions with which to express the elemental emotions of anxiety, fear,love and hatred. In his works, such as The Scream, Munch came to realize the potentialities ofgraphic techniques with their simple directness.By 1905, Expressionist groups appeared almost simultaneously in both Germany and France.Only English painters stood aside from the movement as Expressionism, with its lack ofrestraint, was not congenial to English taste. Between the world wars expressionist ideaswere grafted on to other art movements such as Cubism and evolved into other forms such asAbstract Expressionism and Tachisme.In the exhibition A Bird in the Hand, excellent examples of expressive distortion of shape andthe use of line and colour to express feelings and mood are seen in the works Chickens byThelma Manarey and Cock and Hen by Maxwell Bates.Thelma ManareyChickens, 2001Silkscreen on Paper10 inches X 12 1/16 inchesAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt Styles - AbstractionAbstract Art is a term commonly applied to20th century art styles which developed inreaction to traditional European conceptionsof art as the imitation of nature.By one definition, abstraction involvesthe reduction of natural appearances tosimplified forms. In this sense, abstractionmay involve the depiction of only theessential or generic forms of things byelimination of particular variations. Withinthis, abstraction can, but does not needto, include distortion and stylization.Distortion involves using incorrect orunusual reproductions of the shapes ofWassily KandinskyComposition IV1911things, whereas stylization involves the representation of something through using a set ofrecognizable characteristics.In contrast to reduction as described above, abstraction may also involve the creation ofindependent constructs of shapes and colours which have aesthetic appeal in their own right.Abstract painting was pioneered between 1910 and 1913 by the Russian-born painter WassilyKandinsky in Munich, Germany and in Paris by the Czech artist Frantisek Kupka and the Frenchartist Robert Delaunay. Kandinsky, the most influential of the three, was the first to plunge intopure abstraction.In the exhibition A Bird in the Hand , the simplification of natural appearances through bothdistortion and stylization is witnessed to greater or lesser extents in the works of a number ofthe artists. Excellent examples are expressed in the works Birds and Decoy by Betty Price andNorthern Nesting Grounds by Marion Nicoll.Betty PriceBirds and Decoy, 1979Watercolour on paper24 inches X 18 inchesMarion NicollNorthern Nesting Grounds, 1973Clay print on paper14 inches X 17 11/16 inchesAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
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A Bird in the Hand - Art Gallery of Alberta

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