Picture "Seated Woman Surrounded by Foliage" (1923)
Picture "Seated Woman Surrounded by Foliage" (1923)
Quick info
limited, total 127 copies | signed | lithograph | framed | size 52 x 41.5 cm
Detailed description
Picture "Seated Woman Surrounded by Foliage" (1923)
Otto Mueller's expressionistic paintings and prints developed from his earlier style, which was deeply rooted in Post-Impressionism, Symbolism and Art Nouveau, while retaining the emphasis on graceful body contours. This is also evident in the present work, "Seated Woman Surrounded by Foliage".
Mueller differed from his "Brücke" colleagues in that he concentrated on a harmonious simplification of colours rather than on expressing pure emotion. The artist stated: "The main aim of my striving is to express the feeling of landscape and people with the greatest possible simplicity."
This guiding principle is beautifully reflected in the lithograph at hand, showcasing the freedom with which Mueller portrayed his subjects. The sensually erotic composition of this work was created in 1923.
Between 1919 and 1930, Mueller tried to escape bourgeois life and embarked on extensive travels to Southern and Southeastern Europe. During these journeys, he met Sinti and Roma families, lived with them, and portrayed them many times.
Lithograph, 1923. 127 copies on Japan paper, signed. Catalogue raisonné Karsch 115/I. Motif size 30.3 x 21 cm. Sheet size 40.5 x 30 cm. Size in frame 52 x 41.5 cm as shown.
About Otto Mueller
1874-1930
Otto Mueller was one of the most important representatives of German Expressionism. According to reports by contemporaries, he was a taciturn, withdrawn, even stubborn person. Even though he was a member of the artists’ group "Die Brücke" since 1910, Mueller went his own way artistically. In many stylistic elements, his work is very similar to that of his fellow artists’ group members, but it differs from them in its emphasis on naturalness. Because of his artistic search for the "paradisiacal" in the connection between humans and nature, he was considered an expressionistic romantic.
Mueller was a close friend of the also introverted Wilhelm Lehmbruck. His female nudes set in earthy green landscapes are famous. So are the numerous versions of a theme that preoccupied him throughout his life: the half-exotic, half-fantastic-looking "gipsy" portraits. But his landscape paintings also reveal his independence. Their two-dimensional structured elements in muted colours and their strictly composed composition, are comparable to the great late work of Paula Modersohn-Becker.
The field of graphic arts, that includes artistic representations, which are reproduced by various printing techniques.
Printmaking techniques include woodcuts, copperplate engraving, etching, lithography, serigraphy.