Expressionism Values and Ideals

It was a very different experience trying to understand the teachings of the Expressionism era. This era really focused on the emotional experience among us rather than the physical reality. It made a clear distinction compared to the works of the realism or impressionism era. I would like to talk about the work of Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ for the literature discipline of this blog. It gave me a great opportunity to understand the customs and culture of Nigeria during that period as it relates to the story. The period trait expressed in this work of Achebe is ‘emotional agility’ as it conveys to readers the personal tragedy of Okonkwo and the gradual destruction of Native African cultures. For the art piece, I liked figuring out the visual characteristics of Edward Munch’s ‘Scream’. The visual elements in this painting were so flamboyant when I looked at it for the first time. This artistic piece also expresses the period trait of ‘emotional agility’ as it depicts an agonized figure portraying a serious emotion to the audience. It is also important to mention that this piece served as an inspiration for future expressionistic painters of this period. For the last discipline of this discussion, I really liked listening to Arnold Schoenberg’s musical piece. It also had an underlying tone of emotional vulnerability of an individual in that piece. In further analysis, all the three works from each of the disciplines spoke to the same period trait in one way or another. In looking at the period traits from the slides, I feel like the period trait mentioned above sort of exemplifies the values and concepts of the Expressionism era. It could be a possibility that there could be more period traits that spoke to these pieces but I think it (emotional vulnerability) best expresses the meanings conveyed in the above mentioned examples. (310)

Realism/ Impressionism teachings

It was an interesting experience to understand the philosophical teachings of the Realism/Impressionism era. I really liked the existentialist ideas of Dostoyevsky’s ‘Notes from Underground’. This literature piece speaks to the period of realistic inner lives as it deals with an individual person’s (Underground Man) emotions and thoughts in shaping the future of the society. This period trait speaks to the theme of reason and logic as he feels that humans do things that are illogical and sometimes to satisfy their own ambitions in life. The Underground Man is very critical of the way humans behave and how they incorporate some of the western philosophies in their lives. As for the art piece, I would like to talk about Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s ‘Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette’. This piece is very flamboyant in delivering its artistic features and components as a whole. It also expresses the period trait of realistic inner lives as it displays the joyous gathering of people on a Sunday afternoon in Montmartre, Paris. As for the music piece, I enjoyed listening to Debussy’s ‘Faun’ which was composed of dissonant melody and the harmony was at its best in clarity. It also spoke to the period trait of realistic inner lives as it appealed to the listener’s emotions and thoughts. As we focus on the interdisciplinary essays, I feel like I was having trouble in explaining certain questions on the essay. For example, I was confused about having a thesis statement in my introductory part of the essay and also did not provide enough historical/contextual information about the pieces that were chosen. I also figured that I had a hard time making transitions within the essay when talking about one idea and moving to another idea. Overall, I was not satisfied with my grade but I will keep focusing on how to write effectively on the final interdisciplinary essay exam. (314)