Expressionist Portraits

·       Early 20^th century

·       Major goal of Expressionism was to show how artwork (in terms of painting) could have the capacity to transcend expression.

·       Key artists: Wassily Kandinsky, Kathe Kollwitz, Max Beckman, Egon Schiele, and Emil Nolde.

CHARACTERISTICS

• Expressionism is rarely based on a simple concept.
• Traditional artisan techniques are more important that modern technology.
• Psychological and expressive strength.
• Pure colors, distortion of its lines and of the figures.

Materials:

Newsprint                        Black paper

Charcoal                        Scratchboard

Oil Pastels                        Scratchboard knives

ASSIGNMENT:

Begin with a charcoal drawing on newsprint. This should be a self-portrait, a portrait of one of your classmates, or a drawing from a magazine photo. The drawing should represent Expressionist concepts. What are the expressive qualities of line? On your drawing, list at least 25 adjectives describing different types of line.

This drawing will be transferred into two more finished pieces:

Oil pastel drawing

Explore the expressive use of color with oil pastels. Skin and hair color need not be traditional, try green, bright pink, or celadon.

Build color. Layer different colors on top of one another to create texture. Work on black paper.

Continue to explore the expressive qualities of line in this drawing. Make marks large and small, wide and thin, bold and diminutive….

Scratchboard drawing

Scratchboard is like “backwards drawing.” You will scratch away your light areas and leave your dark areas.The pen is sometimes difficult to control and makes unpredictable marks, but this can add to the expressive quality of the drawing. Try to fill the entire surface of the picture plane with imagery. Avoid making a white line drawing on a black background. Build a balance of lights and darks. Craftsmanship is always a consideration.

RUBRIC:

• Is the composition purposeful?
• Is the drawing simplified and distorted to reflect the Expressionist style?
• Are the colors on the oil pastel drawing unpredictable and expressive?
• Is there a balance of positive and negative space (light and dark areas) on the scratchboard drawing?
• Is the craftsmanship strong?