A humid London arty outing
Yesterday I travelled to the Tate Modern to see their exhibition Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter And The Blue Rider (do click the link - they have animated some of the highlights of the show in a short video which is very clever).
June is proving to be a difficult month to choose what to wear - I ended up taking a raincoat as the forecast was for rain, but I know it can get very hot in the Tate Modern, so I just wore a T-shirt. It was a very humid and unpleasant journey (the train was very crowded!) and I didn't need my coat as it only rained in the evening.
The exhibition focuses on the artists who joined forces to form the Blue Rider group (Der Blaue Reiter) in the early 1920s. At the core of the group were the Russian painter and colour theorist Wassily Kandinsky and his German partner and fellow artist and photographer Gabriele Münter. Together with the artists Franz Marc and Marianne Werefkin and the performance artist Alexander Sacharoff, they produced The Blue Rider Almanac and toured Europe with an exhibition from 1912-1914 which included other expressionist artists' works. After a second exhibition in Munich, their collaboration was disrupted by the First World War. Their works formed the basis of German Expressionism and their use of colour and form was unlike anything that had been seen before.
Under the cut for some of my favourites (picture heavy)
(Photos embiggen with a click)
The exhibition starts by featuring works by Kandinsky and Münter. Here is Kandinsky's Riding Couple (1906) painted during the time he was experimenting with pointillism and fairy tale subjects. I think this looks like a stained glass window.
Münter spent some time in the USA with her sister from 1898-1900 and photographed local people including Women with a Parasol on the Levee of the Mississippi near St Louis in 1900
Initially, the group formed the New Artists' Association of Munich along with Robert Delaunay in 1909 (which included women artists for the first time)
Windows Open Simultaneously (First Park, Third Motif) (1912)
Kandinsky Kallmünz - Gabriele Münter Painting II (1903)
Another associate of the group August Macke Portrait with Apples (Elisabeth with Apples) (1909), a painting of his wife who was very influential in promoting the Blue Rider exhibitions.
Albert Bloch Prize Fight (1912). The more you look at this, the more you see.
Lyonel Feininger Gelmeroda III (1913)
Münter travelled to Tunisia with Kandinsky in 1904 and her portfolio of photographs of local people was against the normal depiction at the time of the people as 'exotic' and 'mysterious'. Sketches of women in traditional dress:
The artist Marianne Werefkin was frustrated by the inequalities between the genders and stated "I am not a man, I am not a woman, I am I". In this period she was labelled 'manwoman' and was considered an 'unnatural member of the third sex'. She supported other artists challenging gender roles including the performance artist Alexander Sacharoff who presented an androgynous persona both on and off stage.
Her preliminary sketch of Sacharoff
Werefkin's portrait The Dancer, Alexander Sacharoff (1909)
Kandinsky Murnau - Johannisstrasse from the Window of the Griesbräu (1908) - blocks of colour create the abstract landscape
Münter Portrait of Marianne Werefkin (1909)
There were examples of items that appeared in various paintings. This is a devotional copy of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady Of Ettal (early 19th century) owned by Münter
Which appears in this still-life Madonna with Poinsettia (1911)
Again, in Still Life with Saint George (1911)
Franz Marc - one of my favourite expressionist painters In The Rain (1910)
I love this one Tiger (1912)
Doe in the Monastery Garden (1912)
Deer in the Snow II (1911)
Cows, Red, Green, Yellow (1911) - this always makes me smile for some reason...
Deer in the Woods II (1912)
Robert Delaunay Study for 'The City' (1909)
Paul Klee Legend of the Swamp (1919)
It was a fascinating exhibition - so many interesting works that were innovative at the time.
June is proving to be a difficult month to choose what to wear - I ended up taking a raincoat as the forecast was for rain, but I know it can get very hot in the Tate Modern, so I just wore a T-shirt. It was a very humid and unpleasant journey (the train was very crowded!) and I didn't need my coat as it only rained in the evening.
The exhibition focuses on the artists who joined forces to form the Blue Rider group (Der Blaue Reiter) in the early 1920s. At the core of the group were the Russian painter and colour theorist Wassily Kandinsky and his German partner and fellow artist and photographer Gabriele Münter. Together with the artists Franz Marc and Marianne Werefkin and the performance artist Alexander Sacharoff, they produced The Blue Rider Almanac and toured Europe with an exhibition from 1912-1914 which included other expressionist artists' works. After a second exhibition in Munich, their collaboration was disrupted by the First World War. Their works formed the basis of German Expressionism and their use of colour and form was unlike anything that had been seen before.
Under the cut for some of my favourites (picture heavy)
(Photos embiggen with a click)
The exhibition starts by featuring works by Kandinsky and Münter. Here is Kandinsky's Riding Couple (1906) painted during the time he was experimenting with pointillism and fairy tale subjects. I think this looks like a stained glass window.
Münter spent some time in the USA with her sister from 1898-1900 and photographed local people including Women with a Parasol on the Levee of the Mississippi near St Louis in 1900
Initially, the group formed the New Artists' Association of Munich along with Robert Delaunay in 1909 (which included women artists for the first time)
Windows Open Simultaneously (First Park, Third Motif) (1912)
Kandinsky Kallmünz - Gabriele Münter Painting II (1903)
Another associate of the group August Macke Portrait with Apples (Elisabeth with Apples) (1909), a painting of his wife who was very influential in promoting the Blue Rider exhibitions.
Albert Bloch Prize Fight (1912). The more you look at this, the more you see.
Lyonel Feininger Gelmeroda III (1913)
Münter travelled to Tunisia with Kandinsky in 1904 and her portfolio of photographs of local people was against the normal depiction at the time of the people as 'exotic' and 'mysterious'. Sketches of women in traditional dress:
The artist Marianne Werefkin was frustrated by the inequalities between the genders and stated "I am not a man, I am not a woman, I am I". In this period she was labelled 'manwoman' and was considered an 'unnatural member of the third sex'. She supported other artists challenging gender roles including the performance artist Alexander Sacharoff who presented an androgynous persona both on and off stage.
Her preliminary sketch of Sacharoff
Werefkin's portrait The Dancer, Alexander Sacharoff (1909)
Kandinsky Murnau - Johannisstrasse from the Window of the Griesbräu (1908) - blocks of colour create the abstract landscape
Münter Portrait of Marianne Werefkin (1909)
There were examples of items that appeared in various paintings. This is a devotional copy of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady Of Ettal (early 19th century) owned by Münter
Which appears in this still-life Madonna with Poinsettia (1911)
Again, in Still Life with Saint George (1911)
Franz Marc - one of my favourite expressionist painters In The Rain (1910)
I love this one Tiger (1912)
Doe in the Monastery Garden (1912)
Deer in the Snow II (1911)
Cows, Red, Green, Yellow (1911) - this always makes me smile for some reason...
Deer in the Woods II (1912)
Robert Delaunay Study for 'The City' (1909)
Paul Klee Legend of the Swamp (1919)
It was a fascinating exhibition - so many interesting works that were innovative at the time.