More obviously than in the case of most artists, Edvard Munch's genius was molded by the circumstances of his life. He was born in 1863 at Loten, north of Christiania (now Oslo), the second of five children of Dr Christian Munch, an army physician, and his wife Laura Cathrine, nee Bjolstad. Though of modest means, the family belonged to the intellectual bourgeoisie, and Edvard's uncle was the great Norwegian historian Peter Andreas Munch. While Munch was still an infant his family moved to Christiania where he grew up.
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Few images in the history of art are as widely recognized as Edvard Munch"s The Scream. It conveys its powerful message very directly so that the viewer requires no knowledge of the circumstances of its creation to derive mean ing from it. This quality of much of Munch"s work means that although The Scream and several other images such as Madonna are generally familiar, other aspects of Munch"s life and work are little known or ignored.
The influence Munch had on some younger artists with this expressionistic quality in his art has often led to him being seen purely as a pioneer of modernism. David Loshak demonstrates that to see Munch only in these terms is to misunderstand his art. Just as Raphael, an eclectic who borrowed from pre decessors and contemporaries, brought the humanistic tradition of the Italian Renais sance to one of the peaks of its development, so Munch, also an eclectic, did something similar for the realistic-romantic tradition of the nineteenth century. For a long time he seemed to be turning his back on realism, whereas actually, on a deeper level, unlike some contemporaries from whom he bor rowed what he needed, he was not rejecting but extending it, adding rather than substitut ing a new dimension of subjectivity.
In a lengthy introduction illustrated with photographs of the artist at work, and prints and paintings by Munch and artists who in fluenced him in his early years, the author tells the story of Munch"s life, following him from Norway to Berlin and Paris and back again. He examines Munch"s artistic develop ment in the light of his unsettled childhood, overshadowed by the death of his mother and sister and the madness of another sister. This is followed by a selection of 60 of Munch"s paintings and prints, chosen from throughout his career. Each is illustrated in large-scale full color with an accompanying text which explains the subject matter, symbolism and pictorial devices of each work. This thoughtprovoking study is informed by David Loshak"s many years" study of the subject and his Scandinavian cultural heritage, and will give pleasure to its readers for many years to come.
Introduction
Morning
Karl Jensen-Hjell
The Sick Child
The Sick Child
Puberty
Village Shop in Vrengen
Inger on the Beach
Hans Jaeger
Night in St Cloud
Spring Day on Karl Johan Street
Rue Lafayette
Evening on Karl Johan Street
Ludvig Meyer
The Storm
The Dead Mother
Summer Night"s Dream (The Voice)
Dagny Przybyszewska
The Scream
Madonna
Woman in Three Stages (The Spbinx)
Ashes
Melancholy
Jealousy
The Day After
Self-Portrait with Cigarette
Death in the Sickroom
Separation
Red Virginia Creeper
Fertility
The Dance of Life
Girls on the Pier
Dance on the Shore
White Night
The Fisherman
Bathing Boys
Family on the Road
Dr Max Linde"s Four Sons
Loving Couples in the Park (The Linde Frieze)
Young People and Ducks
Walther Rathenau
The Death of Marat
Worker and Child
Dr Daniel Jacobson
The Sun
The Yellow Log
The Cliff at Kragero
Yawning Woman
Workers Returning Home
Toward the Forest
High Summer
Self-Portrait in Bergen
The Man in the Cabbage Field
The Murderer in the Avenue
Girl on the Verandah at Ekely
The Bohemian"s "Wedding
Red House and Spruce Trees
Building the Winter Studio
Self-Portrait at the Window
Between the Clock and the Bed
Girl with Pumpkin in the Garden at Ekely
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments