TOWARDS

SYMBOLISM
LESSON 2

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 Learning Objectives:
1. distinguish stylistic tendencies of Expressionism, New
Objectivism, and Surrealism and analyze the elements
and principles of art that give these characteristics
2. identify renowned artists associated with
Expressionism, New Objectivism, and Surrealism
3. explore how ideas inform artistic creations by creating
a project
Symbolism was a modernist movement
that emerged in the early 20th century.
The term was used initially in poetry and
painting.
The poet Charles
Baudelaire, in his poem,
“Correspondences”
writes:
Man passes through this
forest of symbols.”
Several artistic styles are associated with
symbolism since it is more of a creative
strategy than a singular style.
The movement was considered by the art
historian Robert Williams as absolute art
because of artist's refusal to be confined to
the limits of the natural world.
ROBERT WILLIAMS
ART HISTORIAN
 Instead of copying nature, the artist must
rely on his imagination and render the world
subjectively.
An artist may also respond to the world by
expressing emotions and ideas that arise
from his or her intuition.
 Among the styles subsumed under the
symbolist movement, this lesson only
covers
Expressionism, New Objectivism, and
Surrealism.
EXPRESSIONISM AND
NEW OBJECTIVISM
One of the artistic styles that leaned
towards symbolism is Expressionism.
 EDVARD MUNCH
Edvard Munch made a painting
called The Scream (Norweigan,
Skirk) in 1893.
Using oil, tempera, pastel, and
crayon, Munch depicted an
agonized expression of a
human-like figure.
 The figure appears distorted and the scream
is set against a backdrop of orange skies.
Munch called this painting by its German title,
translated as The Scream of Nature. It
became iconic of Expressionism in Europe.
The style called Expressionism emerged in
Germany at the beginning of the 20th
century, used by an obscure writer describing
a work.
Artists described as Expressionists are
known for distorting shapes and using
unnatural colors to make the
representation of the world entirely
subjective.
Figures appear unnatural and thus evoke
emotions and moods.
Expressionists sought to express emotional
states than document reality.
Expressionism was considered cutting edge or
avant-garde before the first World War. The
Weimar Republic ruled during this time and the
center of power was in Berlin.
The Expressionist artist puts emphasis on
individual perspective. This way of looking
at the world has been characterized as a
reaction to the preference for empirical
truth and objectivity.
There were several significant artist groups
under this movement whose works were
characterized by distinct stylistic traits.
Among these groups included Die Bruce or
The Bridge, founded by Ludwig Kirchner in
1905.
Franz Marc, Paul Klee, and Auguste Macke
organized a group in 1911 and called
themselves The Blue Rider or Der Blaue
Reiter. The name was taken after a title of a
painting by Wassily Kandinsky.
 Max Beckmann (1884-1950) was a
German painter, draftsman,
printmaker, sculptor, and writer.
In the 1920s, he was associated with
the Expressionists although he referred
to his works as New Objectivity (Neue
Sachlichkeit). The Weimar republic
recognized Beckmann.
He received several accolades and launched
exhibitions. His works were well received in
museums in Berlin and other German
cultural centers. However, Adolf Hitler rose
to power.
The Nazi government led by Hitler dismissed
Beckmann from the Frankfurt Art School. He
was only one of the artists and intellectuals
humiliated by the Nazi. The government took
more than 500 of his works from museums in
Germany.
The Hitler and the Nazis sponsored an
exhibition called "Entartete Kunst" or the
Degenerate Exhibition in Munich. Beckmann,
along with other artists sought refuge in
other countries. Beckmann went on exile in
Amsterdam and the rest went to the United
States.
Beckmann's work, entitled Die Nacht (1918-
19) show the terror of one night. Three men
have invaded a small house. The man of the
household was hung and tortured by the
intruders. His arm was violently twisted. The
woman of the house was bound to one of the
posts of the room after having been violated.
 TheNight
Beckmann

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A child on the right is about to be forcibly
taken by the intruders. Note the distorted
shapes and unrealistic somber colors used in
the scene. 'The painting lacks spatial depth.
Instead, angular lines and rectilinear shapes
fill up the scene. Flashes of red interrupt and
disrupt the unity of forms to elicit horror.
Other artists associated with the Neue
Sachlichkeit included Otto Dix who critiqued
Weimar society and the brutalities of the
wars in Europe through his paintings. Otto
Dix was also included in the Degenerate
Exhibit and humiliated by the Fuhrer Hitler
and the Nazi Germans.
SURREALISM
The word "surrealist" was used
by a playwright named
Guillaume Apollinaire, He wrote
a preface to his 1903 play
performed in 1917.
His scenic backdrops and set designs were
considered dream-like and irrational. It is
from the use of this term that artists
converged around a movement called
Surrealism.
Note that after the first World War, artists
who Auorished in Paris were scattered
elsewhere in Europe and America. In the field
of the sciences and academic circles,
Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconsious
gained momentum.
Andre Breton, a writer who worked in a
neurological hospital, observed the
experiments on soldier suffering from post-
traumatic stress from the war. He became
one of the leading figures of Surrealism and
published an essay in 1928.
Salvador Dali painted The Persistence of
Memory, a barren landscape with distorted
shapes that appear like melting clocks. The
painting alludes to the tentativeness of
memory and the elusiveness of rationality.
Giorgio de Chirico was one of the artists
allied with the Surrealists.
La Rouge or The Red Tower shows a dream-
like barren landscape with a massive tower
arising out of nowhere. There are no human
ûgures in the scene. The quiet and barren
vastness appear desolate and the tower
appears mysterious.
INFLUENCES IN
THE PHILIPPINE
CONTEXT
 In the Philippine context, the Crucifixion
series of National Artist, Ang Kiukok,
underscores pain and suffering.
In his paintings, the corpus of Christ and the
cross are often distorted and the figures
unnaturally colored.
 ANG KIUKOK

Crucifixion series of
National Artist
 Onib Olmedo's
paintings of protest
against social
inequities often show
distorted human
figures.
The stylistic characteristics of their works
are similar to those of the Expressionists.
These artists were associated with the
Neorealist movement in the Philippines.
The movement does not prefer a single style
but is a broad term used for artists exploring
new ways of figuration. Their works were
initially seen in a series of exhibitions hosted
by the Philippine Art Gallery in the 1960s.
Meanwhile, some of the painters who have
deployed surrealist imagery in their works
include Charlie Co, Rishab Tibon, Mariano
Ching, and many more. It must be noted
however that Filipino artists do not associate
themselves with European Expressionism and
Surrealism.
 The approaches to figuration and
manipulation of artistic media introduced in
Europe and America have been transmitted
through the art education system as well as
books on art.
Filipino artists borrow only some of these
approaches and transform them locally.