Between Kochel and Kalmunz. Early plein airs by Gabriele Munter at the school "Phalanx" by Vasily Kandinsky.

Abstract

The subject of the study of the proposed article is the early plein-air works of the German expressionist artist Gabriele Munter, later a member of the Blue Horseman art association, a student and friend of Vasily Kandinsky. The authors of the article aim to review and introduce into scientific circulation a number of Munter's sketches created by her during summer trips to the plein air in 1902-1903 to the Alpine towns of Kochel and Kalmunz with the Munich art school "Phalanx", headed by Kandinsky. The article also examines the picturesque plein-air works by Kandinsky, created by him in the same years there, in Bavaria - mainly landscapes and sketches of figures in the landscape. The authors of the study see as their task to trace the influence of Kandinsky's artistic manner and his role as a teacher on the formation of a Munter painter.  The research methodology includes formal stylistic, comparative methods of art criticism analysis, as well as a comprehensive historical and biographical approach. The relevance of the study is due to its scientific novelty: the authors of the article for the first time in Russian-language art history literature describe the pre-expressionist works of Munter during the period of joint plein-airs with Kandinsky, trace the formation of her artistic vision and picturesque manner, the influence of Kandinsky on her formation. The development of the impressionistic technique common to Munter and Kandinsky in the early 1900s, according to the authors of the article, is combined with individual searches for expressiveness of form and color. The first experiments of plein-air oil painting in a special "spatula technique" under the guidance of Kandinsky were accompanied by the successful search for Munter in the field of graphics, mastering the technique of printing color woodcuts. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the formation of the original manner of Munter was equally influenced by both pictorial emancipation through sketching practice in oil, as well as their own experiences in drawing and engraving.