The Art of the Expressionists (The Life and Works Series)

Expressionism is an exciting style of painting developed by artists at the beginning of the century to give direct expression to their feelings rather than simply record scenes. Their immediate forerunners were van Gogh, Munch & Ensor. Many of the leading Expressionists were German artists, who were contemporaries with the Fauves of France. Among them were Kirchner, whose Street Scene 1915 shows wartime Berlin Heckel, who painted Bruges on Corpus Christy Day 1914 & Kandinsky, leading the way to abstraction with his Apocalypse Rider. In other countries the Expressionist idea attracted painters like Rouault, Chagall, Bacon & Freud, all of whom are included in this illuminating book.