Expression and expressionism

DEFINITION

(with a small e ? the more general sense) An attitude conveyed by the set of a person's facial features. Also, a quality of inner experience, the emotions of the artist (expressive qualities) communicated through emphasis and distortion, which can be found in works of art of any period. See a larger article devoted exclusivly to expression and expressionism, which includes examples of expressionist works, quotations, etc.Examples of expression in the first sense: Charles Lebrun (French, 1619-1690), Expressions of the Spirit's Passions: Anger, c. 1663, head three-quarters to the right, black pencil, (width 25 cm), Louvre. See Baroque and Poussinisme.Quote: "We were not sent into this world to do anything into which we can not put our heart." John Ruskin (1819-1900), British writer, art critic. Modern Painters (5 volumes, 1843-1860, epilogue, 1888). See art critic and love. "In contemporary art, surface is an expression of anxiety, and no one is as anxious about surface as I am." Charles Ray (contemporary), American sculptor who lives in California. 1998. See anxiety, contemporary, and surface.Also see angst, bias, choose, dance, emotionalism, Expressionism, fanciful, frisson, irony, isms and -ism, love, motivation, nuance, oneiric, pain, portrait, sentiment, Surrealism, and Symbolism.