Expressionism

Expressionism. Artistic movement in Northern Europe, especially in Germany and The Netherlands, from c.1905 to c.1930, it was concerned in architecture not to emphasize function, but to create free and powerful sculptural forms, often crystalline, sometimes sharply angular, and occasionally stalactitic. In The Netherlands the most important protagonists were members of the Amsterdam School, and the characteristic works housing by Michel de Klerk and the Scheepvaarthuis (Navigation House—1913–17) in Amsterdam. In Denmark the greatest work of Expressionism (with a pronounced Gothic flavour) was the Grundtvig Church, Copenhagen (1913–26), by Jensen-Klint. In Germany, however, there were several outstanding examples: the water-tower and exhibition-hall at Posen (now Poznań) of 1911, with a polygonal steel structure resembling crystalline hexagonal forms, by Poelzig; the glass pavilion, Werkbund Exhibition, Cologne (1914), by Bruno Taut; the Grosses Schauspielhaus (Great Playhouse), Berlin (1918–19— destroyed), with its interior resembling a cave of stalactites, by Poelzig; the Einstein Tower, Potsdam (1919–21), by Mendelsohn; the Chile-Haus, Hamburg (1922–3), by Fritz Höger; the administrative-building of the Hoechst Dyeworks (1920–5), by Behrens; the Liebknecht-Luxemburg Monument, Berlin (1926—destroyed), by Mies van der Rohe; the churches of Bartning; some churches by Dominikus Böhm certain works by Bellot; and the farm buildings, Gut Garkau, by Häring. The Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland (1924–8), by Rudolf Steiner, was one of the greatest works of the movement. Some of Gottfried Böhm's architectural language derived from Expressionism.

Bibliography

Chilvers, Osborne, & Farr (eds.) (1988);
Lampugnani (ed.) (1988);
Pehnt (1973);
U. Schneider (1999);
Sharp (1967);
Wit & and Casciato (1986)