Houses in Riegsee

Artist Gabriele Münter (German, 1877–1962)

Date1909

Mediumoil on pressed board

DimensionsBoard: 32.9 × 40.8 × 0.2 cm (12 15/16 × 16 1/16 × 1/16 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund

Object number2018.40

DescriptionOil on cardboard. German Expressionism. The work is signed on the lower right with Münter's monogram, composed of a capital "M" over a small "u", two dots on the very top and one on the right. Also at the bottom right and in the artist's handwriting the title "Hauser in Riegsee" (translated "Houses in Riegsee") and a dedication "an Thyra zur Erinnerung" dated "15.VII.1920" (translated "To Thyra in memory" July 15, 1920). The work dates to 1909.
Label TextThis is a rural scene of houses (Häuser) in Riegsee, a small German village in the Alpine foothills. It was painted two years before Münter joined fellow German and Russian expatriate artists to form “Der Blaue Reiter” (The Blue Rider), a German Expressionist movement based in Munich that was marked by spiritual and symbolic uses of color. In the early 1900s, Münter studied at Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky’s avant-garde Phalanx School in Munich, where she was encouraged to experiment with her technique. During that time, her practice was also informed by the bold colors of Gauguin and the Fauves as well as Bavarian folk art and reverse-glass painting. Here, Münter’s daring is in full effect, with the cardboard support visible in between fields of jewel-toned color, whose application ranges from thin washes to thick, textural patterning.ProvenanceThe artist’s studio; 1920, gifted to Thyra Wallin [1909-1978]; by descent in Wallin family; (November 3, 1993, sale, Bukowskis, Stockholm); (May 11, 1994, Live Auction 7904, Christie's New York, Lot 192); private collection, Hamburg, Germany; 2018, purchased by the Worcester Art Museum.

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