Expressionism in Portraiture
Egon Schiele, Self-portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant (1912) - Leopold Museum, Vienna
Expressionism seeks to depict how the world feels rather than how it looks, and it compounds when it meets the vastly complex feelings of people and indeed how we feel around them. If you’ve never tried to create a portrait with an expressionist influence, I’m going to share some highlights of this movement that you can incorporate into your own art!
PLAY WITH PROPORTIONS
When approaching the composition of your piece, remember that expressionism does not adhere to the biological proportions of people. The head is often enlarged, and facial features are exaggerated or distorted. Hands, which are so expressive in terms of communication and body language, are also often enlarged or featured prominently in expressionist pieces. It is important to keep in mind what feeling you are wanting to express with your piece, as this will influence which features you highlight. This movement wants to show the reality of emotion, and does not shy away from tough feelings like anxiety, loneliness, worry, and fear. Pieces tackling these feelings often involve distortions in the forehead and jaw.
Egon Schiele, Self-Portrait with Raised Bare Shoulder (1912) - Leopold Museum, Vienna
Expressionism doesn’t shy away from pain. And still, capturing joy, innocence, and contemplation is a real and important part of the human experience too. See what enlarging the eyes does for your pieces.
Egon Schiele, Portrait of Wally (1912) - Leopold Museum, Vienna
PLAY WITH COLORS
Expressionism can feature unconventional color palettes using a minimal number of base tones. Complementary colors are often used for highlights and contours, and the colors you choose can help convey the emotion in your subject. Try choosing neighboring warm colors and their complementary neighboring cool colors (for example, yellow/purple and orange/blue). You can bring in unexpected colors in places that break the rules, though be careful with pulling in too many tones. It always comes back to emotion, so if you’re creating a brooding piece you don’t want it to venture into the territory of a technicolor light show. Highly contrasting tones used to outline and distinguish one feature area from another create an overall “flat” appearance to these colorful portraits that is somewhat of a signature of this style.
HONOR ITS ROOTS
Many of the pioneers of expressionism were inspired by non-Western art. They spent a lot of time at the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin studying the works on exhibit at the turn of the 20th century. It should be noted that many of these artists wrote about these works with language seeped in colonialism, considering the art to be “primative.” And yet they saw the expression in these pieces that were not tied to realism. An African mask had the ability to say exactly what it needed to say without being a direct copy of a human face. These are the elements of non-Western art that were a force behind the launch of this highly expressive movement. This is especially true of Expressionist lithographs and woodblock prints, which sought to make this artistic philosophy seen by more people.
Zehn Holzschnitte von Schmidt-Rottluff, Mother (1916)
The Ethnologisches Museum has its own statement addressing colonialism in the function of global museums, which can be found here: https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/ethnologisches-museum/collection-research/colonialism/
EXPLORING EXPRESSIONISM
While I will be doing an exploration in paint, these principles can be applied to any medium! You play with proportions in sculpture, use unexpected description or exaggerated language in writing, or try unexpected colors in textile works. I find myself drawn to colorful Expressionist portraits, and even have a few contemporary examples in my own personal collection. So I decided to explore Expressionism’s colorful take on portraiture when investigating these themes in my own artistic practice. I started sketching with paint, as I knew I would be layering colors on top of one another, and did not want to battle with pencil marks when working with yellows. I chose to use a palette of orange/blue and yellow/purple, with some green for added contrast.
In addition to using an unconventional color scheme, I played with the proportions of facial features to maintain the youthful spirit of the subject. And I chose to honor the character of individual features rather than creating dramatic distortions in my piece. In the end, I was so pleased with my first foray into expressionist portraiture, and I know this will not be the last time I turn my color wheel on its head to try to capture a feeling. Would you try your hand at a portrait inspired by Expressionism? I’d love for you to share your takeaways from this artistic exploration here in the comments!
Carly Maiorano, Daughter (2023)
