a tragic love story

WASSILY KANDINSKY, 1866 – 1944, lived in MURNAU, a village near MUNICH in southern germany in front of the alps, from 1909 until 1914, together with GABRIELE MUENTER, 1877 – 1962. gabriele muenter had bought a house overlooking murnau in 1909, and the two of them stayed there frequently, using the countryside and murnau itself as an important source of inspiration for their paintings. kandinsky developed during these years his abstract painting style. the people in the village called the house the ‘RUSSENHAUS’ – THE HOUSE OF THE RUSSIAN.
the house should play an important role in the formation of a new group of artists, DER BLAUE REITER – THE BLUE RIDER. their members – FRANZ MARC, living in a village nearby, ALEXEJ VON JAWLENSKY, MARIANNE VON WEREFKIN, AUGUST MACKE and the composer ARNOLD SCHOENBERG, who often visited from MUNICH, were the new avant garde, the counterpart of the french FAUVISTS led by ANDRE DERRAIN and HENRY MATISSE in paris.
because of the start of the first worldwar in 1914 muenter and kandinsky first went to switzerland, kandinsky returned later in 1914 to his home and wife in moscow, gabriele muenter stayed in sweden until 1920 and lived in the murnau house from 1931 until her death in 1962. she never met kandinsky again.
a very tragic love story. but – because of the artistic exchange of the two of them in a beautiful place on earth, some of the most stunning paintings were created, masterpieces of GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM.

© wassily kandinsky

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polish poster design

poland is famous for it’s poster designers. one of the probably best known, for his animated films as well, is JAN LENICA. below a collection of polish posters from the past 20 years

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wilhelm m.busch 45

the following selection of illustrations was created by WILHELM M.BUSCH from the late 1940s to the 1980s. the change of his drawing style over that period of time should be interesting to watch…

© wilhelm m.busch

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you might have recognized one or the other artist in the past INSPIRING posts. there were only some files where I had noted the name of the artist, so I decided not to add names in the image compilations at all, it’s more about the art that inspires us, not the name. but – I understand that some of you are curious about some more work a particular artist might have created. below is a list of the, in my opinion, most important comic strip-, cartoon-, caricature and character-design artists, whose work is already represented in the past posts, or will be in the upcoming ones. I am still working on a second list of most important illustrators and concept designers.

after realizing I forgot some important artists I changed the list.

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art students are usually asked to create an INFLUENCE MAP, assembling artwork of artists that infuences them the most. classical paintings, contemporary illustrations, comic strips, character-/concept-designs from animated movies are among other things where we consciously or subconsciously borrow elements, techniques or looks from. as an artist we always need to be inspired, we get a lot of that from life around us. and the endless resources within the world of the internet provide us with all the information and reference we could dream of.
before the time of the internet most illustrators had a huge cut-out archives, reference images cut from magazines and books, and archived alphabetically. I still have cabinets full with those treasures. it took forever and was not cheap. today google is much cheaper and more important – faster.

probably about 15 years ago, when the internet speed in this part of asia where I live, improved, I started the same what I had done years ago, to collect all different reference images – but this time downloaded from the internet and nicely archived ( not always ) in folders for easier locating them. reference photography, classical art, children book-/magazine-/book-illustration, concept art and production design for live action and animation, comic strip. so far some million files.

during this pandemic, for longer than six months I am more or less stuck at my home, what gave me the opportunity to dig through my collections. you have seen already some of the results in my last posts, more to come.

today i wanna show you my version of influence maps, compilations of inspiring artwork that I put together randomly, from those thousands of reference folders.

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Krazy Kat (also known as Krazy & Ignatz in some reprints and compilations) is an American newspaper comic strip by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run. The characters had been introduced previously in a side strip with Herriman’s earlier creation, The Dingbat Family.[1] The phrase “Krazy Kat” originated there, said by the mouse by way of describing the cat. Set in a dreamlike portrayal of Herriman’s vacation home of Coconino County, Arizona, Krazy Kat’s mixture of offbeat surrealism, innocent playfulness and poetic, idiosyncratic language has made it a favorite of comics aficionados and art critics for more than 80 years.
( from wikipedia )
I recommend to look at these 2 ( one / two ) articles about herriman

© george herriman