Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Expressionism: Drop perspective, press figures against the edge, leave unstable gaps
- Type
- Set in Expressionism's manner (Cut the letters by hand and keep the tremor and unevenness), and let Fauvism's lettering (Brush lettered forms, nothing geometric, read by complementary against the ground) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Expressionism's material (Set complements side by side, keep the cut marks and paint body); bring in exactly one thing from Fauvism (Unmixed saturated pigment, vermilion, viridian and cobalt, laid thick on untouched white).
- Colour
- Build on #f1ad3c, #d72625, #070805 and admit one accent from #efd2c5, #a0241f, #343b3e.
Where they fight
- Expressionism and Fauvism both belong to Avant-garde, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Expressionism Distortion applied evenly as an effect erases what the feeling is about, and the picture looks like realism with a filter over it.
- Fauvism Covering the whole surface with strong colour stops the vibration between neighbours and leaves noise. Always keep the bare white ground that lets the clash register.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Expressionism (style, 1905–1930s) and their accent from Fauvism (style, 1904–1908). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Expressionism exists for: hitting an emotion directly, giving up accurate description to do it, or protest work printed from rough woodcuts in unnatural color. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Expressionism - Distorted form - Unnatural color - Rough brush and cut - Urban anxiety Composition: Drop perspective, press figures against the edge, leave unstable gaps. Type and lettering: Cut the letters by hand and keep the tremor and unevenness. ## Accent comes from Fauvism, used sparingly - Pure colour straight from the tube - Complementaries set directly side by side - Bare white ground left unpainted - Rough brushstrokes doubling as contours Let one material quality come from it: Unmixed saturated pigment, vermilion, viridian and cobalt, laid thick on untouched white. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f1ad3c, carry the structure in #d72625 and #070805, and let a single accent come from #a0241f. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: rebellion, exhilaration, intimacy. ## Where they fight - Expressionism and Fauvism both belong to Avant-garde, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. ## What goes wrong - Expressionism: Distortion applied evenly as an effect erases what the feeling is about, and the picture looks like realism with a filter over it. - Fauvism: Covering the whole surface with strong colour stops the vibration between neighbours and leaves noise. Always keep the bare white ground that lets the clash register. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Expressionism 1905–1930s / Style / Avant-garde
Painting what was felt rather than what was seen. Warped forms, violent brushwork and unnatural color moved the anxiety of the city and the age straight onto the surface.
- Fauvism 1904–1908 / Style / Avant-garde
A short-lived movement that severed colour from the depiction of its subject, slamming pure hues onto the canvas as flat planes. The brushstroke itself carries the contour, and adjacent complementaries make the surface vibrate. It became the starting point for every later design that uses colour as a device of emotion.
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