Gabriele Münter @ the Louisiana

entrance to Louisiana Museum

I was recently introduced to a new-to-me painter, Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), in a retrospective of her multi-faceted works at the Louisiana Collection, just north of Copenhagen.

Red Vase, 1909

This is a most fortunate coincidence, as the 12 by the dozen group (to which I once belonged) has chosen this artist to inspire their current quarterly challenge, due at the end of August.

Head of a Young Boy, 1909

Head of a Young Girl, 1908

Münter is best-known for her association with Wassily Kandinsky, with whom she co-founded the Blaue Reiter group of artists.  She wrote,

"In many people's eyes, I was only an unnecessary companion of Kandinsky.... That a woman can have an original and genuine talent and be a creative person in her own right – one tends to forget that."

Mill at Lake Iseo, 1946

The show's catalog reads,

"Through ten themes and more than 130 works – many of which have never been shown before – we here experience Gabriele Münter as an open, experimental artist who does not fit easily into any specific art-historical 'isms'." 

View from the Window in Sèvres, 1906

Münter traveled widely, and her life was relatively unrestricted for a woman of her generation. Orphaned as a young adult, she inherited enough from her parents' estate that she could visit the United States, recording her travels with a camera. Her photos showed an exceptional talent for composition, and she was later able to attend art school.

Main Street in Murnau with Horse and Cart, 1933

I would speculate that one of the reasons Münter is not better known is that the style of her paintings ranged widely throughout her 60-year career, depending on her subject. Viewers of art like to be able to identify an artist's work, and a consistency of style allows them to confirm their discrimination. Today we call this "branding".

Olga von Hartmann, c. 1910

It is gratifying to see more attention being given to the work of women artists, at the Louisiana Museum and elsewhere. The exhibition continues until August 19, 2018.

View from the sculpture garden of the Louisiana,
with the coast of Sweden in the distance.