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Saturday 9 June 2018

And the next artist as inspiration is...

I have been determined to name a female artist as inspiration since I understood the principle of how we are doing it. But I keep changing my mind as to whom to choose... There are so many fabulous women making art that it is indeed very hard to decide on one single person. Only this morning I debated with myself whether I should name 'the women of the Bauhaus School', but as they are a number of women I wasn't sure whether that was allowed. Plus I wasn't sure as to how much information and literature would be available in English, although there has been quite a renaissance for them in Germany lately. Then there are so many others - Georgia O'Keeffe, of course, or Ana Mendietta. Or Nancy Holt. Or or or.
But I went back to a painter (and photographer) after all.
This is a photo of her, taken from a postcard I bought when I went to see one of her exhibitions:


This is a photo of two of her drawings as presented in a catalogue:


She was a student and then fiancée of Kandinsky who deposited a number of paintings in her basement before he went back to Russia (and returned with a different woman for a wife). These paintings then were legally pronounced hers as renumeration, and it was these paintings that were the foundation for one of Munich's famous museums, the Lenbachhaus, a must-see-address if you are interested in expressionist art. She was one of the few women members of the painter group Blaue Reiter, for a while, before she went her own way and settled in Murnau, south of Munich, in a small house that today is a museum in her name. Although there are not that many paintings on display.

Some may have recognized her by now - her name is Gabriele Münter, and I hope you will enjoy letting yourself be inspired by her work.

Cover of a catalogue

6 comments:

  1. Thanks, Uta. One of the delights of this series has been discovering new artists. I have never heard of Gabriele and wasn't aware of her relationship to Kandinsky. I love a challenge and this is going to be another one for me. Plenty to inspire. Hilary

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  2. Great intro to another unheard of artist. Love her bold use of colours. I agree, Hilary, plenty to inspire which sometimes can be a problem.

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  3. Nice choice Uta. I too, like her bold colours and strong figures. It will be fun to use her as inspiration.

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  4. I haven't heard of her either, though it is interesting Learning about new to me artists. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do though - I'm not feeling to inspired at the moment unfortunately!

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  5. Just saw her solo show at the Louisiana Museum, just north of Copenhagen. She used various styles and subjects throughout her career, so there should be no shortage of inspiration!

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  6. Great choice, Uta. I have known about her for a little over a month, when I read a review about her exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, 'Louisiana', an hours drive from our house here in Denmark. I shall feast in her paintings!
    https://en.louisiana.dk

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