The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is devoting an extensive topical exhibition to the women of the STURM beginning on October 30, 2015.
The STURM heralded the advent of modern art. Originally the name of a magazine founded in 1910 devoted to promoting expressionist art, the term STURM (English: STORM) soon assumed the character of a trademark. Herwarth Walden, the publisher of the journal, also founded the STURM gallery in Berlin in 1912. Numerous women artists, including many from other countries, were presented in Germany for the first time at his gallery. As a movement, the STURM represented a program—one that opposed conceptual barriers, the establishment in general, and the bourgeois character of Wilhelminian society and advocated the total freedom of all arts and styles. Composed of friends with similar interests, the STURM network served as a forum for intensive and animated discourse on the ideas, theories, and concepts of the avant-garde. The additional STURM evenings, the newly founded STURM academy, the STURM theater and bookshop as well as occasional balls and a cabaret offered the artists of the STURM a variety of platforms and made the diverse artistic currents and tendencies in Berlin during the years from 1910 to 1930 accessible to a broad public.
For this exhibition, the Schirn is presenting a selection of outstanding paintings, works on paper, prints, woodcuts, stage sets, costumes, masks, and historical photographs acquired on loan from prominent museums as well as university and private collections, including, among others, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, the Theater Museum in St. Petersburg, the Tate and Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the National Museum in Belgrade, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich, and the Von-der-Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal.
Natalja Sergejewna Gontscharowa, Gardening, 1908, Oil on canvas, 102.9 x 123.2 cm, Photo © Tate, London 2015, VG Bild- Kunst, Bonn 2015
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Sonia Delaunay, Portuguese Market, 1915, Oil and wax-paint on canvas, 90.5 x 90.5 cm, Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Firenze
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Magda Langenstraß-Uhlig, Movement, c. 1925, Gouache over graphite on paper, 25.1 x 34.8 cm, Karl Peter Röhl Stiftung, Weimar KPRS-2007/4928 © Photo Stefan Renno, Weimar, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
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Marthe Donas, Still Life with Bottle and Cup, 1917, Collage of lace, sandpaper, cloth, netting, and paint on composition board, 53 x 38.6 cm, Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Collection Société Anonyme, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
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Sigrid Hjertén, Woman with Fur and Red Hat, 1915, Oil on canvas, 116 x 90 cm, Private collection, Photo: Reproduction © per@myrehed.com
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Gabriele Münter, Apples on Blue, 1908/09, Oil on cardboard, 52,5 x 39 cm, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER, Property of Stiftung Gunzenhauser, Chemnitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
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Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin, c. 1909, Oil on cardboard, 81 x 55 cm, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, München, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
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Marianne von Werefkin, City in Lithuania, 1913/14, Tempera on paper over cardboard, 56,5 x 71,5 cm, Fondazione Marianne Werefkin Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Ascona
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Alexandra Exter, Costume design inhabitant of Mars in Aelita, 1924, Watercolor and gouache on paper, 53 x 36 cm, Collection Nina and Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky, Donation to the Charitable Fund “Konstantinovsky”, 2013 © St Petersburg State Museum of Theater
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Jacoba van Heemskerck, Houses in Suiderland, Drawing No. 13, 1914, Ink, 48 x 63 cm, Kunstmuseum Bern, Donation Nell Walden
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Emmy Klinker, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1920/21, Oil on cardboard, 44 x 35.5 cm / 56 x 47.5 x 4.5 cm, Von der Heydt- Museum Wuppertal © Photo Medienzentrum, Antje Zeis-Loi
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Else Lasker Schüler, The Snake-Worshipper on the Market Square of Thebes, 1912, Ink, colored pencils, collaged silver paper, 28,3 x 22,5 cm, Franz Marc Stiftung, Donation Stiftung Etta und Otto Stangl © Franz Marc Museum, Kochel a. See
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Marcelle Cahn, Abstract Composition, 1925, Oil on canvas, 72.4 x 49.7 cm, Musée de Grenoble © Photo Musée de Grenoble
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Sonia Delaunay, Dessin B53, 1924, Gouache and pencil on paper, 100 x 75 (122 x 87 cm), Private Collection, Photo © Private Archives
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Marthe Donas, Cubist Head, 1917, Pencil on paper, 27.5 x 22 / 60 x 65 cm, Private collection © Photo Cedric Verhelst, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
For the first time ever, eighteen women STURM artists representing Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and the New Objectivity will be presented in a comprehensive exhibition featuring around 280 works of art.
The presentation is a somewhat different survey of the most important currents in avant-garde art in Berlin in the early years of the twentieth century.
Among the best-known artists represented in the show are Sonia Delaunay, Alexandra Exter, Natalja Goncharova, Else Lasker-Schüler, Gabriele Münter, and Marianne von Werefkin. They are joined by a number of largely unknown or less familiar artists, among them Marthe Donas, Jacoba van Heemskerck, Hilla von Rebay, Lavinia Schulz, and Maria Uhden.
Each of the eighteen women artists of the STURM will be presented along with her most important works in a separate room at the exhibition. They are artists from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden, Ukraine, and Russia whose works were exhibited at the STURM gallery or published in DER STURM magazine.
The writer and composer Herwarth Walden (1878−1941) exhibited works by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, and Marc Chagall, the artists of Der Blaue Reiter, and the Italian Futurists, but he also actively promoted well over thirty women painters and sculptors strategically and without bias. He was regarded as a visionary and a pioneer on behalf of abstraction and modern art in general, and he united the international avant-garde with his programs. For many women artists, the STURM represented their first big chance, for in the early years of the twentieth century they were neither fully recognized by society nor did they have access to academic training comparable to that of their male colleagues. The life stories, personal circumstances, and critical reception of the eighteen women artists of the STURM are all very different, and their styles vary considerably as well. Yet viewed as a group, they represent an impressive panorama of modern art.
The writer and composer Herwarth Walden (1878−1941) exhibited works by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, and Marc Chagall, the artists of Der Blaue Reiter, and the Italian Futurists, but he also actively promoted well over thirty women painters and sculptors strategically and without bias. He was regarded as a visionary and a pioneer on behalf of abstraction and modern art in general, and he united the international avant-garde with his programs. For many women artists, the STURM represented their first big chance, for in the early years of the twentieth century they were neither fully recognized by society nor did they have access to academic training comparable to that of their male colleagues. The life stories, personal circumstances, and critical reception of the eighteen women artists of the STURM are all very different, and their styles vary considerably as well. Yet viewed as a group, they represent an impressive panorama of modern art.
For this exhibition, the Schirn is presenting a selection of outstanding paintings, works on paper, prints, woodcuts, stage sets, costumes, masks, and historical photographs acquired on loan from prominent museums as well as university and private collections, including, among others, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, the Theater Museum in St. Petersburg, the Tate and Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the National Museum in Belgrade, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich, and the Von-der-Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal.
IMAGES
Natalja Sergejewna Gontscharowa, Gardening, 1908, Oil on canvas, 102.9 x 123.2 cm, Photo © Tate, London 2015, VG Bild- Kunst, Bonn 2015
Sonia Delaunay, Portuguese Market, 1915, Oil and wax-paint on canvas, 90.5 x 90.5 cm, Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Firenze
Magda Langenstraß-Uhlig, Movement, c. 1925, Gouache over graphite on paper, 25.1 x 34.8 cm, Karl Peter Röhl Stiftung, Weimar KPRS-2007/4928 © Photo Stefan Renno, Weimar, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Marthe Donas, Still Life with Bottle and Cup, 1917, Collage of lace, sandpaper, cloth, netting, and paint on composition board, 53 x 38.6 cm, Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Collection Société Anonyme, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Marcelle Cahn, Woman and Sail, c. 1926/27, Oil on canvas, 66 x 50 cm, Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS) © Photo Musées de Strasbourg, A. Plisson
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Sigrid Hjertén, Woman with Fur and Red Hat, 1915, Oil on canvas, 116 x 90 cm, Private collection, Photo: Reproduction © per@myrehed.com
Gabriele Münter, Apples on Blue, 1908/09, Oil on cardboard, 52,5 x 39 cm, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER, Property of Stiftung Gunzenhauser, Chemnitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin, c. 1909, Oil on cardboard, 81 x 55 cm, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, München, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Marianne von Werefkin, City in Lithuania, 1913/14, Tempera on paper over cardboard, 56,5 x 71,5 cm, Fondazione Marianne Werefkin Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Ascona
Alexandra Exter, Costume design inhabitant of Mars in Aelita, 1924, Watercolor and gouache on paper, 53 x 36 cm, Collection Nina and Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky, Donation to the Charitable Fund “Konstantinovsky”, 2013 © St Petersburg State Museum of Theater
Jacoba van Heemskerck, Houses in Suiderland, Drawing No. 13, 1914, Ink, 48 x 63 cm, Kunstmuseum Bern, Donation Nell Walden
Emmy Klinker, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1920/21, Oil on cardboard, 44 x 35.5 cm / 56 x 47.5 x 4.5 cm, Von der Heydt- Museum Wuppertal © Photo Medienzentrum, Antje Zeis-Loi
Else Lasker Schüler, The Snake-Worshipper on the Market Square of Thebes, 1912, Ink, colored pencils, collaged silver paper, 28,3 x 22,5 cm, Franz Marc Stiftung, Donation Stiftung Etta und Otto Stangl © Franz Marc Museum, Kochel a. See
Marcelle Cahn, Abstract Composition, 1925, Oil on canvas, 72.4 x 49.7 cm, Musée de Grenoble © Photo Musée de Grenoble
Sonia Delaunay, Dessin B53, 1924, Gouache and pencil on paper, 100 x 75 (122 x 87 cm), Private Collection, Photo © Private Archives
Marthe Donas, Cubist Head, 1917, Pencil on paper, 27.5 x 22 / 60 x 65 cm, Private collection © Photo Cedric Verhelst, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
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Marcelle Cahn, Woman and Sail, c. 1926/27, Oil on canvas, 66 x 50 cm, Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS) © Photo Musées de Strasbourg, A. Plisson
Marcelle Cahn, Abstract Composition, 1925, Oil on canvas, 72.4 x 49.7 cm, Musée de Grenoble © Photo Musée de Grenoble
Sonia Delaunay, Portuguese Market, 1915, Oil and wax-paint on canvas, 90.5 x 90.5 cm, Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Firenze
Sonia Delaunay, Dessin B53, 1924, Gouache and pencil on paper, 100 x 75 (122 x 87 cm), Private Collection, Photo © Private Archives
Marthe Donas, Still Life with Bottle and Cup, 1917, Collage of lace, sandpaper, cloth, netting, and paint on composition board, 53 x 38.6 cm, Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Collection Société Anonyme, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Marthe Donas, Cubist Head, 1917, Pencil on paper, 27.5 x 22 / 60 x 65 cm, Private collection © Photo Cedric Verhelst, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Alexandra Exter, Costume design inhabitant of Mars in Aelita, 1924, Watercolor and gouache on paper, 53 x 36 cm, Collection Nina and Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky, Donation to the Charitable Fund “Konstantinovsky”, 2013 © St Petersburg State Museum of Theater
Natalja Sergejewna Gontscharowa, Gardening, 1908, Oil on canvas, 102.9 x 123.2 cm, Photo © Tate, London 2015, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Jacoba van Heemskerck, Houses in Suiderland, Drawing No. 13, 1914, Ink, 48 x 63 cm, Kunstmuseum Bern, Donation Nell Walden
Sigrid Hjertén, Woman with Fur and Red Hat, 1915, Oil on canvas, 116 x 90 cm, Private collection, Photo: Reproduction © per@myrehed.com
Emmy Klinker, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1920/21, Oil on cardboard, 44 x 35.5 cm / 56 x 47.5 x 4.5 cm, Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal © Photo Medienzentrum, Antje Zeis-Loi
Magda Langenstraß-Uhlig, Movement, c. 1925, Gouache over graphite on paper, 25.1 x 34.8 cm, Karl Peter Röhl Stiftung, Weimar KPRS-2007/4928 © Photo Stefan Renno, Weimar, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Else Lasker Schüler, The Snake-Worshipper on the Market Square of Thebes, 1912, Ink, colored pencils, collaged silver paper, 28,3 x 22,5 cm, Franz Marc Stiftung, Donation Stiftung Etta und Otto Stangl © Franz Marc Museum, Kochel a. See
Gabriele Münter, Apples on Blue, 1908/09, Oil on cardboard, 52,5 x 39 cm, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER, Property of Stiftung Gunzenhauser, Chemnitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin, c. 1909, Oil on cardboard, 81 x 55 cm, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, München, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015
Marianne von Werefkin, City in Lithuania, 1913/14, Tempera on paper over cardboard, 56,5 x 71,5 cm, Fondazione Marianne Werefkin Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Ascona