Review of Gabriele Münter: Painting to the Point at Museum Ludwig, Cologne

26/12/18

Gabriele Münter: Painting to the Point

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

15 September 2018 – 13 January 2019

The German painter Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) holds a special place in my heart, since, at the age of 17, I spent the summer in the small and charming Bavarian Alpine town of Murnau, completing a language course at the Goethe Institute, and there encountered for the first time the work of Münter and her contemporaries. For it was in Murnau that the Berlin-born artist settled in 1909; there that she and Russian émigré artist Wassily Kandinsky lived together in the “Yellow House”, which went on to become the birthplace of the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider group of expressionist artists); and there that she continued to live until her death, at the age of 85. The Staffelsee (the lake on the shores of which Murnau sits), the onion-shaped dome atop the church tower, and the purple and green Alps in the distance are all sights that warm my heart, much as they must have done Münter’s, given the number of times that she painted them. As soon as I read the announcement about Gabriele Münter: Painting to the Point, at the Museum Ludwig, this exhibition was therefore a must for me. 

Read the full review here

Review of Ida Kerkovius: “Meine Welt ist die Farbe” (“My world is colour”) at Kunstsammlung Chemnitz, Germany

04/04/14

Ida Kerkovius: “Meine Welt ist die Farbe” (“My world is colour”)

Kunstsammlung Chemnitz, Germany

2 February – 27 April 2014

Listed alongside Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945), Marianne von Werefkin (1860-1938) and Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907) as one of the most significant German women artists in the first half of the 20th century, Ida Kerkovius (b1879 in Riga, d1970 in Stuttgart) nevertheless remains less well known. Why, I cannot say, for in her lifetime, Kerkovius was a big success, honoured with various awards and titles, including the Federal Cross of Merit, a professorship and honorary membership of various academies and guilds. Ten exhibitions were dedicated to her in the Kunstkabinett, Frankfurt, between 1948 and 1983 alone, and she was commissioned to produce stained glass for the social services department, the Landesgewerbemuseum and the town hall in her adopted city of Stuttgart, as well as for the university clinic chapel in Tübingen.

To read the rest of this review, please go to: http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/ida-kerkovius-meine-welt-ist-die-farbe-my-world-is-colour