Gariele Münter—another medium well done
Upon entering the Lenbachhaus these days, your first impression is that of having landed at a Pop Art exhibition. But the four large-format portraits, identical except for different coloring, which greet the visitor on the back wall of the entrance hall are not a series of Warhol-style celebrity portraits. Rather, they are turn-of-the-century linocuts by Gabriele Münter, depicting her maid, Aurelie, during a stay in France.Münter (1877-1962) is the most important female member of the famous Expressionist artists’ group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). Although best known for her expressive oil paintings in vibrant colors, the new exhibition at the Lenbachhaus introduces another side of Münter — her printed oeuvre. For the first time ever the museum, which houses a large collection of Blue Rider art provides a comprehensive overview of this underrated aspect of Münter’s work. Since the artist generously donated her complete printed oeuvre, among other artworks, to the Lenbachhaus in 1957, curators were able to draw from an extensive fund of 88 sheets as well as preliminary sketches in pencil, watercolors or gouache, photographs and original print blocks. By exhibiting not only the finished prints, but in several cases also the various stages that preceded them, it is possible to follow the process of developing a print from an impression.
Born in Berlin, Münter studied art briefly in Düsseldorf, then spent two years with relatives in St. Louis, Missouri, before coming to Munich in 1901 to continue her studies. The newly founded Phalanx School is where she first met her teacher, the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, who was to become her companion a few years later. In 1903 he encouraged her to explore woodcutting. Both artists subsequently discovered the medium for their work. During their joint stay in Paris in 1906/7, Münter in particular studied cutting and printing techniques. She created about one quarter of her entire printed oeuvre during these months in Paris, not to mention numerous color versions of each motif. In these early wood and linocuts, many of them portraits or park and street scenes, Münter already exhibits a mastery of the medium and a new point of view. While her paintings during that time were still inspired by Impressionism, it is her woodcuts that manifest her talent for reducing motifs to simple outlines and flat areas of color. Thus, in her woodcuts, Münter technically anticipated the revolutionary changes that she and her fellow Blue Rider artists would soon introduce to painting.
Since the sharp lines of a woodcut do not allow for subtle shading, Münter juxtaposed broad areas of light with shadow. At the same time, she experimented freely with color variations, which enabled her to present one landscape in different lighting conditions or moods. The six different shadings of Bridge in Chartres, for example, suggest the same view during the course of one day — from a rosy dawn to bright daylight, soft dusk and, finally, dark blue night. In the years to come, Münter continued to experiment, as in her 1908 “Toy” series. Printed on thin Japanese vellum, these detailed, somewhat humorous still lifes of dolls, teddy bears and tin soldiers were inspired by traditional Japanese prints with their typical absence of light and shadow. After a few years during which the artist focused exclusively on painting, she returned to woodcuts, now in stark black and white, with raw, naive representations. A greater contrast between her earlier printed works and those made after her separation from Kandinsky and during her exile in Scandinavia (1915-20) is scarcely conceivable. The delicate, fragile etchings she created during these difficult years seem to echo her personal crisis. Only after her return to Bavaria in 1930 did she take up the style and motifs of her Blue Rider paintings once again in her printed work.
Small in format and subdued in color, Münter’s printed works may not have the same immediate impact as her colorful Blue Rider paintings, for they speak a softer language, work a more subtle charm. “Gabriele Münter: Das druckgraphische Werk” (Her Printed Oeuvre) is a delightful exhibition with an air of intimacy that should not be missed by anyone interested in the art of the Blue Rider. <<<
“Gabriele Münter: Das druckgraphische Werk” is on display at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus until April 16. After that it will travel to the August Macke Haus, Bonn (April 29-July 8) and to the Schlossmuseum Murnau (July 20-November 4).
