Influence of war on German expressionists. Comparing Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Georg Baselitz (eBook)

Essay from the year 2019 in the subject Art - Visual artists, grade: 72%, Birmingham City University, course: Fine Art, language: English, abstract: “German art seldom has been easy. It is often reminded with its nation’s history, sometimes expressing its glory, but just as often decrying its tumult and suffering.” (Homburg, 2003).

In times of war a nation or the whole world is brought into chaos and uncertainty. Throughout the past hundred years our world has suffered many conflicts and tensions - including the first and second world war (1914–1918; 1939-1945) and the cold war (1947–1991).

In times of war artists feel a great need to respond in their own way. Throughout history there have been many different ways of making art during war. For instance, Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix from 1830 is one example of a war painting from the French Revolution. With the female personification of liberty walking over dead bodies and holding up the French flag as the main focus, the painting is heroic and triumphant. Other artists use art as a form of propaganda, protest or as a way of expressing their individual feelings in response to war, suffering and destruction. Two German artists, considered expressionist from two different generations experiencing similar forms of devastation, are Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938) and Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938). Their role as expressionist artists and the influence of war is the focus of the following discussion.