Edvard Munch : between the clock and the bed

Edvard Munch Between the clock and the bed

Book - 2017

This engaging book offers a fresh look at the exceptional works of Edvard Munch (1863-1944) by examining them in the light of his precarious mental state. Following a nervous breakdown in 1908, Munch underwent electroshock therapy, which prompted a marked change in his art work. The haunting Self-Portrait between the Clock and the Bed, finished one year before his death, represents a culmination of the themes of mortality, isolation, and anxiety that he explored repeatedly, and provides, in these pages, a perfect lens through which to view the artist's entire oeuvre. Informative essays consider Munch's position in the art world, his conception of self as a means of experimentation, and the psychological content of his paintings, w...hile a previously unpublished foreword by the celebrated Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard offers a new perspective on Munch's life and work. Featuring over 40 masterworks from throughout the painter's career, and an illustrated chronology that traces the progression of his emotional state and its influence on the images he created, this is an intimate, provocative study of an enigmatic artist and his remarkable legacy.

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Subjects
Munch, Edvard, > 1863-1944 > Themes, motives > Exhibitions.
Munch, Edvard, > 1863-1944. > Self-portrait between the clock and the bed > Exhibitions.
Art and mental illness > Exhibitions.
Exhibition catalogs.
Genres
Exhibition catalogs
Published
New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art [2017]
Language
English
Other Authors
Karl Ove Knausgård, 1968- (writer of preface), Edvard Munch, 1863-1944 (-)
Item Description
This catalogue is published in conjunction with "Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed," on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from June 24 through October 9, 2017; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from November 14, 2017, through February 4, 2018; and the Munch Museum, Oslo, from May 12 through September 9, 2018.
Physical Description
152 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 27 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781588396235
  • Preface: on Edvard Munch / Karl Ove Knausgaard
  • Introduction / Gary Garrels, Jon-Ove Steihaug, and Sheena Wagstaff
  • The untimely face of Munch / Allison Morehead
  • Patterns in Munch's painting technique / Mille Stein
  • The business of being Edvard Munch / Patricia G. Berman
  • Munch on the periphery / Richard Shiff
  • Plates
  • Chronology / Michèle Wijegoonaratna.
Review by Choice Review

In his preface, "On Edvard Munch," renowned novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard develops the artist's words at the end of his life: "My art has been an act of confession"--a notion that applies not only to Munch's many self-portraits but also to the landscapes and other stock scenes returned to again and again. In the introduction the editors analyze the sense of place Munch evoked in Self Portrait: Between the Clock and the Bed (completed in 1943). Four essays make up the heart of this exploration of late Munch. In "The Untimely Face of Munch," Allison Morehead unfolds Munch's artistry in the European traditions of self-portraiture. In "Patterns in Munch's Painting Technique," Mille Stein compares Munch's multiple versions of the "dance of death" in light of techniques used by contemporaries like Renoir. In "The Business of Being Edvard Munch," Patricia Berman details "promotional activities" Munch used to advance his works in the public sphere. And in "Munch on the Periphery" Richard Shiff looks at the connection between Munch's understanding of science (e.g., wave theory) and his impressionistic observations of daily life. The second part of the book is devoted to extraordinarily vivid color plates (54 pages) and a chronology of Munch's life (6 pages). Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. --J. Gill Holland, Davidson College

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Accompanying an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this catalogue showcases more than 60 paintings by Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) accompanied by four informative essays by art historians and a preface by Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard. The essays, selected by the show's organizers, offer insight into Munch's career, examining the artist's stylistic trajectory, work processes, and even business acumen. Particularly noteworthy is Patricia Berman's contribution, which describes how Munch was able to rise in the art market without appearing to treat his art as a mere commodity, a feat accomplished by his vast network of friends and collectors and by his personal style, which resonated snugly with the "cult of the self" and personal authenticity that was vogue in the art market at the time. In the final essay, Richard Schiff shows that Munch was uniquely able to unify material representation with abstract emotion, as demonstrated by his famous Scream, in which the heaving landscape and distorted figures increase the viewer's sensations of panic and dread. The elevated tone and tight focus of these essays seem directed toward scholars and serious Munch enthusiasts. However, the book's main appeal is the abundant reproductions of Munch's paintings, which, intensely expressive, melancholic, and revealing as they are, amplify Knausgaard's assessment that Munch's confessional paintings "are made up of colors and shapes and touch us in a way that words never can." (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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