Angela-+Expressionism

=Expressionism=

A term used to denote the use of distortion and exaggeration for emotional effect, which first surfaced in the art literature of the early twentieth century. When applied in a stylistic sense, with reference in particular to the use of intense colour, agitated brushstrokes, and disjointed space. Rather than a single style, it was a climate that affected not only the fine arts but also dance, cinema, literature and the theatre.

Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist **attempts to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses** that objects and events arouse in him. **He accomplishes his aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements.** In a broader sense Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the later 19th and the 20th centuries, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements. []

T he term ‘Expressionism’ can be used to describe various art forms but, in its broadest sense, it is used to describe any art that raises subjective feelings above objective observations. []

__Expressionism in Film Noir__ Many movies that could be classified as "Film Noir" have elements of expressionism, in particular Orson Welles' Citizen Cane (1941), and John Huton's The Maltese Falcon (1941).