More favourites....with a bit of gossip!

Can my memory go back that far? Yes it can. Suddenly I see artists, their work displayed on the walls of the Leopold museum in Vienna, yet representing parts of Germany, the Germany I knew as a child growing up.

Gabriele Munter, 1877-1962, painted this image of Murnau am Staffelsee and immediately I thought of my three sisters who had gone to the Gymnasium (High school) there. And on reading about Ms Munter I recalled how she loved Bavaria so much (the south of Germany) that she lived for some time in a defacto relationship with another artist in our village, Kochel am See, near the Austrian border. The artist with whom she had the affair was Kandinsky, Russian in origin, a lover of great colours also, one of the originators of the Blue Rider Circle. I was lucky enough to find a publication by
Annagret Hoberg, 160 pages with 86 illustrations, 49 in colour, displaying their work and lives together in Bavaria.

 Franz Marc, another famous artist has an art
gallery also in Kochel am See as he lived and worked there for some time, around the beginning of the C20th. My mother had several of his paintings which found their way to Australia in 1956 with our migration but then
to our regret my eldest sister on moving to France in 1959 felt she had to take some of these paintings with her.

The picture on the left was a colourful example of Wassily Kandinsky's work. To me his work looks very similar to the artistry of Gabriele Munter or seeing Wassily Kandinsky was holding art lessons in Kochel and having several students, perhaps Gabriele Munter couldn't avoid having a similar style.

 The Leopold gallery briefly recognised the
work of Christian Rohlfs, 'The King of the Potato Pancakes' circa 1909 which was embroidery with woollen threads...a technique of which three pictures done more recently now hang on my walls. (not by this artist).

Conrad Felix-Muller, Dresden 1897-1977, showed his skill with water colour on paper when in 1924 he created 'The Poet'. The striking colours and the stress or concern reflected on the face of the poet make this a memorable artwork.





And so a much ignored yet extremely talented artist, Lyonel
Feininger, New York 1825-1956 NY., he presented as a fine pencil sketcher as well as a magnificent artist.

 This was the train, the Locomotive with the Big Wheel, of 1910...images I could be sure to be recognised by the youngest in our family, both keen observers of our visit to any museum in Austria.

 This beautiful flower arrangement  with its striking colours painted by Emile Nolde I couldn't pass by without
letting everyone see it. Perhaps you love it as much as I do especially on or near St. Valentine's Day.

A painting of flowers such as this says it all and what's more will keep for ever!

Click on the images to enlarge!