Sale: 400 / Modern Art, Dec. 08. 2012 in Munich Lot 68

 

68
Gabriele Münter
Stillleben mit Hinterglasbild und Keramikhund, 1933.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 70,000 / $ 75,600
Sold:
€ 70,760 / $ 76,420

(incl. surcharge)
Stillleben mit Hinterglasbild und Keramikhund. 1933.
Oil on canvas.
Signed lower left. Verso with estate stamp and an adhesive label with a partly hand-written and partly stamped estate number "S 103" as well as inscribed with white chalk and an old adhesive label with the stamped number "1316". 38,3 x 46,5 cm (15 x 18,3 in).

Accompanied by a written confirmation of authenticity issued by the Gabriele Münter- and Johannes Eichner-Foundation, Munich, dated 22 November, 2012. The work will be included into the catalog raisonné of paintings Gabriele Münter.

PROVENANCE: Gabriele Münter- and Johannes Eichner-Foundation, Munich.
Galerie Gunzenhauser, Munich (with label on stretcher),
there acquired from previous owner in 1977.
Private collection Northern Germany.

EXHIBITION: Deutscher Künstlerbund. 10th exhibition, Haus der Kunst, Munich 1960 (with exhibition label on stretcher).

Gabriele Münter received her first art lessons at the 'Damen-Kunstschule' (Ladies Art School) in Düsseldorf and then attended the Society of Woman Artists as M. Dasio's and A. Jank's pupil. Then she went to Munich where she visited the private art school 'Phalanx' which was run by Wassily Kandinsky. In 1904 Münter and Kandinsky began travelling together: to Holland, Italy, France - where they met Rousseau and Matisse - and elsewhere. Stylistically she now distanced herself from Impressionism and her works began showing Fauve and Expressionist influences. In 1908 she and Kandinsky began leading a calmer life in their apartment in Munich. They often met with Klee, Marc, Macke, Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin. The country house Münter bought in Murnau provided an ideal working environment. In 1909 the artist began painting glass, a medium which would later also be adopted by Kandinsky, Marc, Macke and Campendonk. Münter was a member of the 'Neue Künstlervereinigung München' for two years and in 1911 she joined the 'Blaue Reiter', the artist group founded by Kandinsky and Marc. She was interested in Kandinsky's development towards abstract art, but her own works continued to be figurative. Her landscapes, figurative scenes and portraits show a reduction to the essential with an inclination towards humorous characterisation. When war broke out, Münter and Kandinsky at first moved to Switzerland. Münter, however, decided a year later to go to Stockholm, where she separated from Kandinsky. In late autumn 1917 she moved to Copenhagen. She travelled a lot during the 1920s and spent some time in Munich, Murnau, Cologne and Berlin. After 1931 she spent most of her time in Murnau and Munich.

Just as it was true for her days in Munich before World War I, Gabriele Münter also found the surroundings in Murnau to be an excellent source of inspiration for her still lives. The intended of coincidental arrangement of items in her apartment is object of an artistic examination of a subject about which she was often so excited that she made several versions of it, which, however, did not greatly differ from one another. The slightly sketch-like concept of this work, still lacking the weight of the later version, can very well presumed to be primary one. Color chords are placed airily almost swiftly, which speaks for a quick painting process. She said the following: "Difficult to get back to work after a long break. Tuesday evening I saw flowers, dog and picture above the reed organ – quick to the canavs and painted – a start " (transl. of quote after: Ex. cat. Gabriele Münter, Munich and Frankfurt 1992/93, p. 290). According to her work diary, Gabriele Münter made the first version on 16 October, 1933 with the reverse glass painting "on rose". Two further versions were made until December 1933.

In 1956 she received the Culture Prize of the City of Munich. The year 1960 saw the first exhibition of Münter's work in the US, followed in 1961 by a large show in the Mannheim Kunsthalle. The artist died in her house at Murnau on 19 May 1962. [KD].




68
Gabriele Münter
Stillleben mit Hinterglasbild und Keramikhund, 1933.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 70,000 / $ 75,600
Sold:
€ 70,760 / $ 76,420

(incl. surcharge)