Word: munter
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PERSUADING FRIENDS to visit an exhibition of an artist as little-known as Gabriele Munter may be difficult, but it is well worth the trouble. Few are familiar with Munter's work; that's a shame. Munter's significant contribution to the Blaue Reiter movement, a reaction to impressionism that stressed abstract forms, merits far greater attention than it has received until now. Her participation in this avant-garde group, however, does not constitute her major achievement; the Blaue Reiter fails to encompass the whole extent of Munter's quiet originality of style...
...collection that Charles Haxhausen, curator of the Busch-Reisinger, and Ann Mochon, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, have organized suggests an answer to the enigma of Munter's obscurity. The tremendous diversity in the exhibition--which includes lineoleum prints, graphite sketches, and lithographs as well as paintings, but does not cover her photography or special projects like a purse and wall hanging executed by the artist from designs by Wassily Kandinsky--reveals the difficulty of pigeonholing Munter's talent...
...make the situation worse, Munter's style can't be pinned down to one movement. She shows little traditional influence in most of her work, and in others, a definite Symbolist tendency, like her Portrait of Kandinsky, 1906, a lineoleum print that portrays Kandinsky staring out penetratingly against a background of large patches of stained-glass color. Her later Blaue Reiter work shows the influence of artists Jawlensky and Macke, as well as Kandinsky. In Still Life with Sunflowers, a simple outline of a vase supports very simply painted flowers. Using a minimum of strokes, Munter has made the stems...
PERHAPS THE PRINCIPAL PROBLEM behind Munter's lack of recognition lies in her relationship with Kandinsky, a genuis of the Blaue Reiter group. At first his student, and then his companion for eight years (difficulty obtaining a Russian divorce from his first wife precluded their marriage), Munter's work was constantly, and unavoidably, compared to an artistic giant who towered above her in his achievement. Mochon, in her catalog accompanying the exhibition (worth the price), describes the role of the women in the Blaue Reiter circle as definitely secondary: in the discussion and planning sessions for an almanac to present...
...same time, Kandinsky provided invaluable guidance and support for Munter during the period of their association, and his influence in many areas undoubtedly aided her development of her own, stubbornly original style. This originality and her diversity of form also give her style the possibility of wider appeal; for example, three lineoleum prints of children's toys, called Playthings No. One, Two and Three, might capture the interest of a conservative-minded audience. The dolls, soldiers and stuffed animals, mostly in pink, yellow, light blue and green, look strikingly life-like. A harshness characteristic of German painting contrasts with...