New Humanities: The Artist’s Response to the Development of Modern Society
Carmen Wiley
This essay is reproduced from the exhibition catalog, Anxious States: Expressionism from Gauguin to Oliveira. Anxious States presents artworks from the MCAM permanent collection, curated by students from the Museum Studies class at Mills College. The exhibition is on view in MCAM’s back gallery through May 27, 2018. Download the digital catalog.
During the turn of the twentieth century, Europe experienced rapid industrialization, urbanization, and changes in societal structures. These changes were paired with a tension that began to grow between nations. This pressure was felt throughout all sectors of society and helped lead to the construction of German Expressionism. German Expressionism was in many ways, an artistic response to new stresses attributed to this modernized society. Through their work, these artists sought to express internal grief and universal emotion.
A common theme of German Expressionism was a desire to go back to nature. Drawing on ideas from earlier movements such as Primitivism, an art movement based off European artists’ fascination with Indigenous art, the German Expressionists saw the structure of European society as inferior to what they considered to be simpler cultures. At the same time, German Expressionists worked to revolt against artistic and cultural norms and values. They did so by depicting new subject matters such as everyday people living in this new kind of society.
Their anti-traditional stance is manifested in the use of high contrast, illustrative block prints and chaotic form and subject matter. Additionally, the emotional aspect of these works is essential. German Expressionists were concerned with depicting inner emotion and psyche that was brought on by burgeoning societal stressors. Much of what was expressed was a desire to “go back” to a simpler, more natural way of life, the Brücke artists were directly influenced by Primitivism and the philosophies of Paul Gauguin. [1]
Social Darwinism and “The Cultural Evolution”Anthropological thought during the latter half of the nineteenth century proposed that human difference was based on culture and not race.[2] In other words, the belief that one could look at non-industrialized civilizations as though they were a “window into the past.” During this time, Europeans considered Indigenous people to be in an earlier stage of psychological development, which led artists like Gauguin to believe their way of life was closer to nature, or the essential way of being. Primitivist theory was involved with finding a true way of living, and looking “back” to a pre-industrial world was considered to be the way of finding universal truths about humanity.
The rapidly changing physical and social environment that practically all Europeans were facing during the latter half of the nineteenth century was a major source of anxiety. Many artists responded to this by spending time in nature. Gauguin took this one step further than most other artists and moved to Tahiti. Here, he spent time “studying” Indigenous people and often engaging in sexual acts with young women. Essentially, his idea of escaping into nature was inherently sexual, violent, and overtly male.
Artists who were experiencing anxiety due to burgeoning industrialism sought to remedy this by searching for the primal truth of personhood. And, because of the idea that non-industrialized societies were a window into the past, Primitivists believed that these people had a greater access to the truth of natural personhood. They sought to access this truth by associating themselves with all things deemed tribal. Gauguin believed this to be true and went to live an “unspoiled” life in Tahiti. From his writings in Noa Noa, the journal he kept during his time in Tahiti, it is clear that he highly exoticized the land and people. He also saw the local women as something for the taking, conflating body with land. The following quote from Noa Noa illustrates his villainous attitude towards Indigenous women:
All, indeed, wish to be ‘taken,’ literally, brutally taken, without a single word. All have the secret desire for violence because this act of authority on the part of the male leaves to the woman-will its full share of irresponsibility. For in this way she has not given her consent for the beginning of a permanent love. It is possible there is a deeper meaning in this violence which at first seems so revolting. It is possible also that it has a savage sort of charm. I pondered the matter, indeed, but I did not dare. Then, too, some were said to be ill, ill with that malady which Europeans confer upon savages, doubtless as the first degree of their initiation into civilized life . . .[3]
Manao Tupapua, a woodcut by Gauguin, is part of a series that was meant to accompany his writings in Noa Noa. In many ways, these woodcut prints reflect the same kind of racist sexism that Gauguin displayed in his writings. The image depicts an Indigenous woman lying in the fetal position with her back turned to us. She is not given any sort of specific identity leading the viewer to consider her more of a symbol or object rather than an individual. For Gauguin, that symbol was savage eroticism. Additionally, Manua Tupapua translates to “The Spirit of the Dead Watching,” which elicits a voyeuristic element to the print. The image surrounding the young woman is mystic and unclear. Dense foliage is suggested by the use of ragged lines crafted by woodcut printing. There is a masked figure in the back who is presumably the spirit in the title of the work suggests. Her body can be read as an “island,” which alludes to the idea of conflating landscapes with women’s bodies. Essentially, this image denies the woman of her own autonomy and identity while engaging in processes of consumption and exotification.
Images of otherness are essential to Primitivism. If Europeans live in highly advanced societies and are essentially too smart for their own good, what is the opposite? Edward Said, a founding member of postcolonial studies, coined the term Orientalism, which describes the way the “West” orients itself as the center of the world.[4] The construction of the “East” is then used to describe all that deviates from the normal “West.” This thought process eventually evolved into “normal” being superior and the concept of European Paternalism came into being. European Paternalism was used as a justification for colonization that essentially stated that non-industrialized civilizations were less advanced and in need of Europe’s guidance and control. While Primitive artists and German Expressionists considered Indigenous cultures more authentic than European culture, it was still under the guise that they were inferior. The simplistic nature that Gauguin and German Expressionist, Erich Heckel projected onto these cultures was the selling factor for them. Additionally, it is important to note that they could not be more wrong. These artists inability to understand difference led them to consider variation in cultural practice as an inferior practice.
Many German Expressionists employed woodblock printing as their choice of medium. From a formal perspective, woodblock printing employs simple, highly contrasted, black and white forms. German Expressionists were also heavily informed by the geometry that existed in African masks and textiles. They were interested in this because of both the primitivist influence that was discussed earlier and the sheer visual impact of the forms. Erich Heckel’s The Bathers demonstrates this through simple lines and sheer lack of shading. While sharing certain similar traits with Primitivists such as Gauguin, Heckel does not engage with the same level of consumption and exoticism as Gauguin. Here, he is depicting himself, other members of the Brücke group, and their girlfriends. Heckel is undeniably influenced by Gauguin but his work does not mean to depict or consume some sort of distant, mystic entity. Many members of the Brücke group spent a considerate amount of time in rural coast towns in Germany where they practiced nudism and relaxed amidst nature.
Käthe Kollwitz represents a different kind of reaction to the kinds of anxieties faced in the modern world. Instead of looking to Primitivism to inform her art, she utilizes naturalism to depict anxiety and emotion in her art. Many of her prints and sketches consist of grieving mothers and illustrate the after effect that war had on the working class.
Käthe Kollwitz was born in Prussia in 1867 to a progressive middle-class family who encouraged her to pursue her art career. Greatly influenced by graphic artist, Max Klinger, Kollwitz focused her energy towards etching and woodcuts, increasing the simplicity of her visual language. This medium was also largely used for social commentary and was easily replicated for accessibility purposes. Later in her career, she turned almost entirely to drawing for its stark purity and ability to report what is seen. Particularly interested in egalitarianism, Kollwitz appreciated the accessibility of printing and the immediacy of drawing. Kollwitz was an incredibly compassionate person and often drew inspiration from the poor and working-class individuals who were admitted to her husband’s medical clinic. Additionally, Kollwitz lost her son during World War I which expanded her understanding of grief and suffering. Due to her inherently sympathetic nature, Kollwitz worked tirelessly to explore human despair and universal emotion.[5]
Exhortation of Grief is a lithograph that depicts a grieving woman knelt before a deceased figure. While this image has a sketch-like quality, Kollwitz does not go out of her way to depict her figures in any kind of stylized approach. Instead, she focused on creating naturalistic portrayals of visceral emotion. Kollwitz was not interested in escapism like Gauguin and Heckel. She was producing work after World War 1 and was recovering from tragedy rather than trying to escape from it before it occurred. Here, Kollwitz represents post-war emotion. Her naturalistic depictions do not have an overt feeling of anxiety to them, but rather, the feeling of complete despair. She is not looking into the future with fear, she is looking at the past and present with agony.
Kollwitz was not interested in Primitivism or the idea of “going back” into nature. Instead, she represented a different, more socially conscious variant of German Expressionism. Growing up as a woman in a progressive family, who later married a man who ran a hospital for the working class, Kollwitz was likely more sensitive to the different types of inequalities that existed in European society. Kollwitz typically produced images of people who she could directly relate to rather than some distant idea or concept of other. Her naturalistic style was depicting individuals rather than concepts or objects, thus focusing on the individual’s experience of emotion, rather than a collective society’s experience of emotion. Often depicting women grieving over deceased children, Kollwitz draws upon her own life experiences to inform her work. Unlike Gauguin and Heckel, she is not relying on an outside source to achieve an expressive work.
Gauguin, Heckel, and Kollwitz all represent the different ways artists reacted to the industrialization and modernization of European society. Furthermore, these artists sought universal human truths and experiences. Gauguin engaged with Primitivism and sought to use Indigenous culture as a way to look back in history to find some kind of primal human truth. Heckel drew upon theories of Primitivism and applied it to his group of artist friends in Germany. They sought to relieve modern anxiety by spending time in rural coast towns and practicing nudism. Lastly, Kollwitz expressed her inner turmoil and compassion by depicting the working class’s pain and suffering. Interested in universal human emotion, Kollwitz drew on society’s worst fear: the death of a loved one.
[1] Die Brücke was an artistic movement founded by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff in Dresden, Germany in 1905. Their movement was founded on anti-bourgeoisie ideals and promoted a relaxed, bohemian lifestyle. They were young, naïve and believed their generation could affect revolutionary social change. Brücke artists sought to capture everyday people participating in their day to day lives. This ranged from people working in urban centers to relaxing in nature. In many ways, Die Brücke was influenced by an earlier artistic movement called Primitivism which claimed that Indigenous societies were superior to European society by being simpler and closer to an authentic way of being human.
[2] Alex Mesoudi, “Cultural Evolution,” Oxford Bibliographies, January 11, 2012, http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0038.xml
[3] Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa; The Tahitian Journal of Paul Gauguin, translated by O. F. Theis, (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994), pp. 30–32.
[4] Edward Said, “Introduction,” Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979), pp. 1–31.
[5] Elizabeth Prelinger, Käthe Kollwitz, (Washington: National Gallery of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), pp. 1–20.
