Expression. What in the world does that mean to the artist? So much. Here's a picture I took of a horse that was so excited to see a human near its fence... as you can see.
The dictionary defines expression as, indication of feeling, spirit, character, etc., as on the face, in the voice, or in artistic execution.
The artist defines expression as a formulaic approach to a subject. Taking the idea of expression and implementing it during WW I, artists named this movement "Expressionism." The artist defines Expressionism as expressing "emotions through the use of vivid colors and strong, distorted lines, rather than capturing a likeness or reality. Their work was characterized by intense, violent, and non-naturalistic colors, painted in a textural manner."
We try to capture things as artists, and in a world where nothing was making sense anymore (World Wars breaking out), artists turned to a different style to try and make sense of the emotions. Think of Munch's "The Scream." Evocative of many emotions and moods, expressionism takes pains to move the soul of a person, instead of Fauvism (focusing on color use, like Matisse, and capturing the world by color) and Impressionism (the focus on light and an impression of the subject) that previously held the art world captive.
Expression became a formal element in an artist's composition. Expression allows the viewer to "feel" the subject, whether that be abstract or a identifiable representation.
Here's an artist in the contemporary expressionist vein of study: Elizabeth Chapman.
She says, "I find the force and beauty of the creative process to be compelling. My paintings are personal narratives, portraying honest emotions in response to current life and past memories. When I'm painting, spirit and intuition guide while my hands mindfully follow."
Her paintings contain variations on light/dark/calligraphic marks/textures, and personality that is her own take on a certain emotive subject.
Emotions are valuable to human connectivity. That's why expression falls as an important art form for any time--arguably, before "expressionism" was coined as an artistic word, expression was the driving force of artist's personal art pieces. For, no one does art unless to express something of value.
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