Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

Expressionism
43
The darker side of Romanticism was further developed in the German Expressionist
movement. Expressionism originated in German aesthetics, especially the writings of
Goethe, according to Hermann Bahr, in his book, Expressionismus, first published in
1916. 148 Bahr interpreted Expressionism “as a movement giving primary importance to
the inner world of the emotions, by contrast to Impressionism, which remained
‘enslaved’ to the external world of nature or of the senses”. 149 Walter Lacqueur goes as
far as to argue that: “[Expressionism] was a movement in the Romantic tradition,
perhaps the most extreme form of Romanticism that ever existed. The tendency to put
the inner experience above the outer life was typically Romantic, as was the attempt,
often unconscious, to recapture the religious (or quasi-religious) ecstasy of the Middle
Ages”. 150 Both of these aspects have resonances with Ward’s work. His own definition
of Expressionism, in an interview for this thesis, was as “an expression where the
emotional content of something is the most important essential element”. He later
amended this statement in these terms: “The emotion is still the key thought, and the
technique is only there to serve the emotion”. In reference to his own work, he
commented that: “Certainly, the emotional content is very important […] but my aim is
to make films that essentially say something about the business of existence, of being,
so it’s not just an emotional thing”. 151 Granted, this comment seems equally applicable
to the best Expressionist art.
The Expressionists tended to focus particularly on potential conflict between the inner
self and society, or the inner self and the natural world. The term Expressionism has
frequently been used in discussions of Ward’s films, primarily because of their
“expressive” qualities in detailing the inner life of their characters. Both A State of
Siege and Vigil explore the inner journeys made by female protagonists, but it would be
true to say that almost all of Ward’s films revolve around interior (as well as physical)
journeys. The influence of Expressionism was noted by Ward’s producer, John
Maynard in an interview for this thesis when he described Ward as an Expressionist
filmmaker whose “influences all come from Expressionist painting, from the use of
148 Cited in The Encylopedia of Visual Art, 837.
149 The Encyclopedia of Visual Art, 838.
150 Laqueur, Weimar: A Cultural History 1918-1933 117-18.
151 Lynette Read, interview with Vincent Ward 11 December 1997.