1932, Gabriele Münter, Farmhouses -- San Diego Museum of Art
From the museum label:
Gabriele Münter was at the forefront of the avant-garde in Germany in the early twentieth century, and a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter The Blue Rider), which along with Die Brücke (The Bridge), formed part of a broader German Expressionist movement. This installation focuses on her unique contribution and draws exclusively from the Museum's collection.
As a woman, Münter was not allowed to attend the official art academies in Germany; instead she searched in alternative directions for art training, embracing more radical shifts in the art world. Financially independent, she had a freedom that few women at the time possessed, and visited artists and collections throughout Europe, mastering techniques of painting, woodcutting, and printing. She was particularly inspired by the pure shapes, bright palettes, and flat planes of color employed by Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse. Although her subjects appear timeless, paradoxically Münter worked rapidly, using a palette knife to apply paint and scrape it back, as a brush wasn't up to her speed. She once commented "My main difficulty was I could not paint fast enough. My pictures are all moments of life instantaneous visual experiences." During the Nazi era when her paintings, along with those of all other German Expressionists, were deemed "degenerate," she hid her work as well as many paintings by Wassily Kandinsky and other Der Blaue Reiter artists, in her home. Despite several searches they remained safe and survived the war.
1932, Gabriele Münter, Farmhouses -- San Diego Museum of Art
From the museum label:
Gabriele Münter was at the forefront of the avant-garde in Germany in the early twentieth century, and a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter The Blue Rider), which along with Die Brücke (The Bridge), formed part of a broader German Expressionist movement. This installation focuses on her unique contribution and draws exclusively from the Museum's collection.
As a woman, Münter was not allowed to attend the official art academies in Germany; instead she searched in alternative directions for art training, embracing more radical shifts in the art world. Financially independent, she had a freedom that few women at the time possessed, and visited artists and collections throughout Europe, mastering techniques of painting, woodcutting, and printing. She was particularly inspired by the pure shapes, bright palettes, and flat planes of color employed by Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse. Although her subjects appear timeless, paradoxically Münter worked rapidly, using a palette knife to apply paint and scrape it back, as a brush wasn't up to her speed. She once commented "My main difficulty was I could not paint fast enough. My pictures are all moments of life instantaneous visual experiences." During the Nazi era when her paintings, along with those of all other German Expressionists, were deemed "degenerate," she hid her work as well as many paintings by Wassily Kandinsky and other Der Blaue Reiter artists, in her home. Despite several searches they remained safe and survived the war.