Gabriele Münter: Driven and Dedicated

Gabriel Münter - Portrait of a Young Woman, oil on canvas - 1909 - Milwaukee Art Museum (click photo for larger image)German Expressionist artist Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) was one of the founders in 1909 of the avant-garde artists’ group Neue Künstlervereinigung (“New Artists’ Association”) formed by Munich artists challenging the official art of the day. The artists in the group were united in their purpose, not in their style. In 1911 Münter joined Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) in leaving the group to form the rival association, Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”), the second phase of German Expressionism, which reached its peak in Berlin, during the 1920s.

A student of Kandinsky, Münter fell in love with the painter and lived with him for more than a decade, during the period leading up to WWI. Münter exhibited paintings at the Blaue Reiter exhibitions of 1911 and 1912. While sharing the group’s characteristic intensity of color and expressiveness of line, her still life paintings, figures, and landscapes remained uniquely representational rather than abstract. The painting featured here is one of her more notable works.

What is Abstract Art…Really?

Arthur Dove - Golden Storm - 1925 - Oil and metallic paint on plywood panel - 18 9/16 x 20 1/2 in. - The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (click photo for larger image)Many people don’t understand the difference between Abstract Art and Non-Representational Art—and the terms are often used interchangeably (sometimes erroneously) even by arts professionals.

To “abstract” means to remove from—or highlight—the essentials of something. When applied to the visual arts, this means that the original idea is grounded in something from the “real” word, but presented in a non-realistic way. For example, artist Arthur Dove (1880-1946)—considered the first American abstract painter—provided his own personal interpretation of nature in Golden Storm, an early work of his mature style. Working on his boat, in Huntington Harbor, Long Island, Dove “captured the movement of water, freezing it into abstract, timeless patterns of choppy waves heaving under ominous billowing clouds.” He “abstracted” what he felt was significant in what he actually saw.

Piet Mondrian - Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow - 1930 - oil on canvas, 46 x 46 cm - Kunsthaus Zürich (click photo for larger image)Strictly speaking, Non-Representational art refers to works created wholly from the artist’s imagination—and having no foundation is a tangible reality. Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), for example, used the simplest combinations of straight lines, right angles, primary colors, and black, white, and gray in a number of his works—developing “an extreme formal purity that embodies the artist’s spiritual belief in a harmonious cosmos.” Although such works are often described as “abstract”— they are more aptly defined as “non-representational”. They are based on an idea—not a tangible reality.

The lines between abstraction and non-representation often do get blurred. It’s not always easy to tell the difference and it can get very confusing. I’ll be delivering a presentation designed to help sort out the distinctions on October 19, 2016, from 7-9 PM, for the Continuing Education program offered by the Chappaqua Central School District. It will be a fun program! You’ll see a number of fascinating works and learn more about abstraction and non-representation.

Charles Burchfield: A Sense of Wonder

Charles Burchfield - November Sun Emerging - 1956-59 - Watercolor on paper - 37 3/4 x 31 7/8 in. - Private collection (click photo for larger image)Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967) was an American painter whose work ranged from the realistic to the highly mystical. During the 1920s and ‘30s, Burchfield’s work emphasized the loneliness and harshness of American cities and small towns, rendered in stark realism. However, after 1940, he returned to exploring personal interpretations of nature, which had been a preoccupation earlier in his career. His later works were painted with “a sense of wonder” at its (nature’s) color, movement, and forms.

There are a number of Burchfield paintings on view at MoMA, the Whitney, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York—as well as in the Smithsonian and the Phillips Art Collection, in Washington, D.C.

Burchfield’s work is well worth your attention!

“Stuart Davis: In Full Swing”

Stuart Davis - Egg Beater No. 4 - 1928 - Oil on canvas - 27 1/8 x 38 1/4 in. - The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (click photo for larger image)Stuart Davis (1894-1964) was an American abstract artist—heavily influenced by Cubism. His unique paintings presaged the use of commercial art and advertising by Pop artists of the 1960s. By 1913, a very young Davis was competent enough to show five watercolors in the Armory Show. This was the first large exhibit in the United States of avant-garde European art, and the event marked a turning point in his career. Davis developed a new style based on the rhythmic contrast between geometric areas of flat color and objects clearly defined in linear perspective. His meticulously planned and executed paintings possess wit and gaiety. Davis was inspired by taxis, storefronts, and neon signs. The dissonant colors and lively, repetitive rhythms in his work can be seen as visual analogs to jazz music, which he loved. The Whitney Museum in New York is currently presenting “Stuart Davis: In Full Swing” and it will be up until September 25, 2016. Don’t miss this fantastic exhibit!

Kirchner’s “Bern with Belltower”

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bern with Belltower, 1935, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 80.65 cm (27.75 x 31.75 in) Minneapolis Institute of ArtsThe charming setting as subject matter was a rarity for German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938). In 1917, Kirchner left Germany for Switzerland where he settled in an alpine house at Davos. He became a new influence in the Swiss art world, which had been relatively untouched by Expressionism. At an age when most artists begin to settle and mellow, Kirchner found new vigor in the idolatry of Swiss students. The peaceful beauty and vast expanse of the high Alps, as well as the political stability of Switzerland, must also have contributed to the new brightness and precision evident in Bern. This new style, Kirchner's last period, began in 1925. Nothing of his expressive power is lost in the grandeur, gaiety and light.