Guggenheim opens survey of Gabriele Münter’s paintings and photographs

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York is presenting “Gabriele Münter: Contours of a World,” a survey of the German artist that brings paintings and early black-and-white photography into focus for a wider audience. The show, curated by Megan Fontanella (modern art) and Victoria Horrocks (photography), assembles about 50 paintings and a generous selection of photographs from the late 1890s and early 1900s.

It emphasizes Münter’s early alliances and influences — including her relationship with Wassily Kandinsky, with whom she was romantically and professionally linked from 1903 to 1914 — and traces connections to Fauvism, the Nabis, and the founding of Der Blaue Reiter in 1911 with Kandinsky and Franz Marc.

The exhibition is presented in three galleries over two tower floors, requiring visitors to leave and re-enter through the rotunda to see the full installation. The photography section documents Münter’s 1898–1900 visit to relatives in the United States and includes works such as “Willie [William Graham] reading on the floor of his bedroom, Guion, Texas” (1900), “Three boys, probably St.

Louis, Missouri” (ca. 1900), and “Three women, Marshall, Texas” (dated Juneteenth, June 19, 1900). The review notes that these gelatin silver prints, taken with a mass-marketed No. 2 Bulls-Eye camera, suggest Münter might have pursued a career in photography had she chosen to do so.

Key Topics

Culture, Gabriele Münter, Guggenheim Museum, Wassily Kandinsky, Der Blaue Reiter, Franz Marc