ounds her. In such works as Bathing Boy (1904), Bathers at Moritzburg (1909/20) and Five Bathers at the Lake (1911), the bathing theme once again emerges and reaffirms the primitivsm of bathing in a natural setting. Unlike the fauves, however, who depict their figures in unlocalized settings, Kirchner attempts to bring the tropical landscapes of the primitive to his northern home in an attempt to capture the emotion and expressiveness of his native country. The woodlands and beaches of the above paintings are strikingly reminiscent of his German homeland (Lloyd 152).Paramount in all of Kirchner's (and the German Expressionists') artwork is eliciting a sense of human emotion. This may be one of the Die Brcke's purest and most conceptual interpretations of the primitive -- their desire for the maximum of emotion and their effort to depict the essence of things. These artists had a tendency to call all the refined and complicated aspects of the world superficial and unimportant; they thus attempted to get behind these things to something basic and important (Goldwater 60). Their main interest lies in the basis (the primitivism) of human character and conduct, which at times can be unpleasant and violent, but is the most accurate representation of our society.The Surrealist interpretation of the primitive is much more abstract and ideological than either the Fauvist or Die Brcke view. The direct aesthetic influences of African and Oceanic artwork are not evident in most Surrealist pieces; rather, it is the theoretical conception of this movement that makes it essentially primitive. The Surrealists viewed themselves as continuing a tradition of exposing the subconscious that went back to the alchemists (Gale 15). They thought of themselves as pioneers, as well, in the new field of Freudian psychology. With its help, they would delve into the emotions of humans that had been repressed for social or moral reasons but nevertheless con...
