Georg Muche
Encyclopedia
Georg Muche was a German painter, printmaker, architect, author, and teacher.
, in the south of Saxony-Anhalt
, Germany
and grew up in the Rhön area. His father, Felix Muche, was a naïve painter
and art collector who was known as Felix Ramholz.
Muche's art studies began in 1913 in Munich
at the School for Painting and the Graphic Arts which had been founded by Anton Ažbe
and was then owned by Paul Weinhold and Felix Eisengräber. In 1914 he applied to the Royal Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts
in Munich, but failed the entrance examination. His study of painting resumed in 1915, with Martin Brandenburg, when he moved to Berlin
. At this time he had already been influenced by Wassily Kandinsky
and Max Ernst
, and became one of the earliest proponents of abstract art
in Germany.
and his Sturm artist group, working as Walden's exhibition assistant at the Sturm Gallery. He also taught painting at the Sturm Art School from 1916 to 1920. Muche's exposure to the Expressionist
world influenced him to become more unconventional in his work, creating abstractions that combined elements of Cubism
with the colour ideals of Der Blaue Reiter
and Marc Chagall
. He participated in three exhibitions from 1916 to 1918, each of which paired his work with that of another artist: Max Ernst
(1916), Paul Klee
, and Alexander Archipenko
(1918). From 1913 to 1923, Muche produced prints which showed a strong influence by Klee, as well as Marc Chagall
.
His art career was interrupted with a one-year stint in the military, serving on the Western Front
in 1917 during World War I
.
Walter Gropius
invited Muche in 1919 to join the Bauhaus
faculty in Weimar
. At the urging of Lyonel Feininger
, he accepted, becoming the youngest Master of Form.
Herwarth Walden had given him a five year contract with Sturm in 1917, but Muche dissolved it prematurely to gain some independence for his Bauhaus
work.
At Bauhaus, he headed the weaving workshop from 1919 to 1925 and directed the preliminary course from 1921 to 1922. Muche married Elsa (El) Franke, who was a Bauhaus student, in 1922. After 1922 his style evolved from pure abstraction towards more figurative and organic leanings, a sort of lyric surrealism
.
Muche was in charge of the 1923 Bauhaus Exhibition, their first major exhibition, for which he designed an experimental house known as "Haus am Horn
". It was constructed in 1923 as the first practical implementation of the new Bauhaus building style. Such principles were key influences on 20th-century architecture. Haus am Horn was designed to showcase economical housing, providing a functional design using prefabricated materials for quick and inexpensive construction. The house, which demonstrates a keen understanding of the use of space, has been called "a true artwork of the realization of abstract monumental beauty". In 1996, Bauhaus and its sites in Weimar and Dessau
were declared a 20th-century World Heritage Site
by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
. Of the original Bauhaus buildings in Weimar, Haus am Horn is the only one still standing. Muche was the leading proponent of the Bauhaus architectural group. In 1926 he, along with Richard Paulick, designed the innovative Stahlhaus (Steel House) at Dessau-Törten. From 1925 to 1927 he headed the Bauhaus' weaving workshop in Dessau.
's Modern Art School of Berlin, where he taught until 1930. For 1929's 10 Years of the November Group Exhibition, Muche oversaw the abstract and constructive design and architecture departments. Starting in 1931, until he was dismissed by the Nazis
in 1933, he was a professor at the State Academy for Art and Applied Arts in Breslau, where he taught with Oskar Schlemmer
. He then resumed teaching in Berlin, at the School for Art and Work, under the directorship of Hugo Häring
. He remained there until 1938.
Thirteen Muche paintings and two prints were confiscated from museums by the Nazis and at least two of those works were displayed in the 1937 Munich exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art). This exhibit was intended to inflame public opinion against modernism, which was presented as a conspiracy by people who hated German decency, and to incite revulsion against the "perverse Jewish spirit" penetrating German culture, although only six of the 112 artists included in the exhibition were in fact Jewish.
After spending some time in Italy, Muche wrote a book, Buon Fresco – Briefe aus Italien über Handwerk und Stil der echten Freskomalerei, on fresco
painting. He exhibited his own frescoes at a Berlin gallery. From 1939 to 1958 Muche was on the faculty of the School for Textile Engineers in Krefeld
, holding the position of artist director of the Master Class for Textile Art. He also worked in Wuppertal
at an institute developing painting materials. His associates there included Oskar Schlemmer and Willi Baumeister
.
He settled in Lindau
, on the eastern side of Lake Constance
, in 1960. There he continued his painting and graphic art work as a freelancer
. His work in the 1970s included a series of paintings and drawings making up the Tafel der Schuld (Panels of Guilt). In 1979 he was awarded the Lovis Corinth
Prize by the city of Regensburg
. In 1980 Berlin's Bauhas Archive assembled an extensive retrospective
, Georg Muche – Das künstlerische Werk 1912–1927. Muche died in Lindau on 26 March 1987.
Für Wilhelm Runge, a painting by Muche, was featured on a 1996 German postage stamp as part of a series of stamps honoring German painting of the 20th century.
, Museum of Modern Art
(New York), Harvard Art Museums, Museum of Fine Arts
(Boston), Brooklyn Museum
, and Kunstmuseum Bonn
.
Early life and education
Georg Muche was born on 8 May 1895 in QuerfurtQuerfurt
Querfurt a town in Saalekreis district in the south of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, situated in a fertile area on the Querne, west from Merseburg, on a branch line from Oberroblingen. Pop. 12,935 .-History:...
, in the south of Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and grew up in the Rhön area. His father, Felix Muche, was a naïve painter
Naïve art
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...
and art collector who was known as Felix Ramholz.
Muche's art studies began in 1913 in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
at the School for Painting and the Graphic Arts which had been founded by Anton Ažbe
Anton Ažbe
Anton Ažbe was a Slovene realist painter and teacher of painting.Ažbe, crippled since birth and orphaned at the age of 8, learned painting as an apprentice to Janez Wolf and at the Academies in Vienna and Munich. At the age of 30 Ažbe founded his own school of painting in Munich that became a...
and was then owned by Paul Weinhold and Felix Eisengräber. In 1914 he applied to the Royal Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich was founded 1808 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Munich as the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" and is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany...
in Munich, but failed the entrance examination. His study of painting resumed in 1915, with Martin Brandenburg, when he moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. At this time he had already been influenced by Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
and Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
, and became one of the earliest proponents of abstract art
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
in Germany.
Sturm
In Berlin, Muche became associated with Herwarth WaldenHerwarth Walden
Herwarth Walden was a German Expressionist artist and art expert in many disciplines...
and his Sturm artist group, working as Walden's exhibition assistant at the Sturm Gallery. He also taught painting at the Sturm Art School from 1916 to 1920. Muche's exposure to the Expressionist
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
world influenced him to become more unconventional in his work, creating abstractions that combined elements of Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
with the colour ideals of Der Blaue Reiter
Der Blaue Reiter
Der Blaue Reiter was a group of artists from the Neue Künstlervereinigung München in Munich, Germany. The group was founded by a number of Russian emigrants, including Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and native German artists, such as Franz Marc, August Macke and...
and Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
. He participated in three exhibitions from 1916 to 1918, each of which paired his work with that of another artist: Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
(1916), Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
, and Alexander Archipenko
Alexander Archipenko
Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko was a Ukrainian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist.-Biography:...
(1918). From 1913 to 1923, Muche produced prints which showed a strong influence by Klee, as well as Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
.
His art career was interrupted with a one-year stint in the military, serving on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
in 1917 during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Bauhaus
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
invited Muche in 1919 to join the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
faculty in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
. At the urging of Lyonel Feininger
Lyonel Feininger
Lyonel Charles Feininger was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist.-Life and work:...
, he accepted, becoming the youngest Master of Form.
Herwarth Walden had given him a five year contract with Sturm in 1917, but Muche dissolved it prematurely to gain some independence for his Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
work.
At Bauhaus, he headed the weaving workshop from 1919 to 1925 and directed the preliminary course from 1921 to 1922. Muche married Elsa (El) Franke, who was a Bauhaus student, in 1922. After 1922 his style evolved from pure abstraction towards more figurative and organic leanings, a sort of lyric surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
.
Muche was in charge of the 1923 Bauhaus Exhibition, their first major exhibition, for which he designed an experimental house known as "Haus am Horn
Haus am horn
The Haus am Horn was built for the Weimar Bauhaus's exhibition of July through September 1923. It was designed by Georg Muche, a painter and a teacher at the Bauhaus. Other Bauhaus instructors, such as Adolf Meyer and Walter Gropius, assisted with the technical aspects of the house's design...
". It was constructed in 1923 as the first practical implementation of the new Bauhaus building style. Such principles were key influences on 20th-century architecture. Haus am Horn was designed to showcase economical housing, providing a functional design using prefabricated materials for quick and inexpensive construction. The house, which demonstrates a keen understanding of the use of space, has been called "a true artwork of the realization of abstract monumental beauty". In 1996, Bauhaus and its sites in Weimar and Dessau
Dessau
Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...
were declared a 20th-century World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. Of the original Bauhaus buildings in Weimar, Haus am Horn is the only one still standing. Muche was the leading proponent of the Bauhaus architectural group. In 1926 he, along with Richard Paulick, designed the innovative Stahlhaus (Steel House) at Dessau-Törten. From 1925 to 1927 he headed the Bauhaus' weaving workshop in Dessau.
After Bauhaus
Muche left the Bauhaus in 1927 to join the faculty of Johannes IttenJohannes Itten
Johannes Itten was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school...
's Modern Art School of Berlin, where he taught until 1930. For 1929's 10 Years of the November Group Exhibition, Muche oversaw the abstract and constructive design and architecture departments. Starting in 1931, until he was dismissed by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in 1933, he was a professor at the State Academy for Art and Applied Arts in Breslau, where he taught with Oskar Schlemmer
Oskar Schlemmer
Oskar Schlemmer was a German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school. In 1923 he was hired as Master of Form at the Bauhaus theatre workshop, after working some time at the workshop of sculpture...
. He then resumed teaching in Berlin, at the School for Art and Work, under the directorship of Hugo Häring
Hugo Häring
Hugo Häring was a German architect and architectural writer best known for his writings on "organic architecture", and as a figure in architectural debates about functionalism in the 1920s and 1930s, though he had an important role as an expressionist architect.A student of the great Theodor...
. He remained there until 1938.
Thirteen Muche paintings and two prints were confiscated from museums by the Nazis and at least two of those works were displayed in the 1937 Munich exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art). This exhibit was intended to inflame public opinion against modernism, which was presented as a conspiracy by people who hated German decency, and to incite revulsion against the "perverse Jewish spirit" penetrating German culture, although only six of the 112 artists included in the exhibition were in fact Jewish.
After spending some time in Italy, Muche wrote a book, Buon Fresco – Briefe aus Italien über Handwerk und Stil der echten Freskomalerei, on fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
painting. He exhibited his own frescoes at a Berlin gallery. From 1939 to 1958 Muche was on the faculty of the School for Textile Engineers in Krefeld
Krefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
, holding the position of artist director of the Master Class for Textile Art. He also worked in Wuppertal
Wuppertal
Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
at an institute developing painting materials. His associates there included Oskar Schlemmer and Willi Baumeister
Willi Baumeister
Willi Baumeister was a German painter, scenic designer, art professor, and typographer.-Life:Willi Baumeister, born in Stuttgart in 1889, completed an apprenticeship as a decorative painter in his native city from 1905 to 1907, followed by military service...
.
He settled in Lindau
Lindau
Lindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...
, on the eastern side of Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
, in 1960. There he continued his painting and graphic art work as a freelancer
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
. His work in the 1970s included a series of paintings and drawings making up the Tafel der Schuld (Panels of Guilt). In 1979 he was awarded the Lovis Corinth
Lovis Corinth
Lovis Corinth was a German painter and printmaker whose mature work realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism....
Prize by the city of Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
. In 1980 Berlin's Bauhas Archive assembled an extensive retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
, Georg Muche – Das künstlerische Werk 1912–1927. Muche died in Lindau on 26 March 1987.
Für Wilhelm Runge, a painting by Muche, was featured on a 1996 German postage stamp as part of a series of stamps honoring German painting of the 20th century.
Collections
Muche's work is in the collections of many museums, including Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(New York), Harvard Art Museums, Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
(Boston), Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
, and Kunstmuseum Bonn
Kunstmuseum Bonn
The Kunstmuseum Bonn or Bonn Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Bonn, Germany, founded in 1947. The Kunstmuseum exhibits both temporary exhibitions and its collection. Its collection is focused on Rhenish Expressionism and post-war German art...
.