The Hunterian, University Library, 82 Hillhead Street, University of Glasgow.

12 June - 5 September 2009

In June the Hunterian Art Gallery will host a major loan exhibition from the Munch Museum, Oslo.

events

Edvard Munch: Prints

12 June - 5 September 2009

Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow

From 12 June, visitors to the Hunterian Art Gallery will have the rare opportunity to see some of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's remarkable prints. The new exhibition, Edvard Munch: Prints, is a major loan exhibition from the Munch Museum in Oslo and features 40 of his finest prints. This will be the most substantial display of Munch's prints in the UK in over 35 years.

The works on display have been chosen from throughout Munch's career and cover all the printmaking techniques he used. Amongst the masterpieces on show, the most iconic is the famous black and white lithograph of 'The Scream'. This will be the last chance for visitors in the UK to see the print, which is one of the world's most famous images. The print is on loan for the last time, and in future visitors will have to travel to Norway to see it.

Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944) was Norway's greatest artist and one of the founders of the Expressionist movement. He set out to paint images of life, and in the process depicted the neuroses that developed in his own traumatic childhood. He made his name first as a painter and only started making prints after the sensation of his 1892 Berlin exhibition.

His extensive graphic work was an important influence on twentieth-century art. Munch was inspired by the etchings of German artist Max Klinger, and this allowed him to create graphic versions of his own innovative psychological imagery, working in a style related to Symbolism and Art Nouveau to produce both etchings and lithographs.

In 1896 in Paris, influenced by Vallotton and Gauguin, Munch made his first woodcuts. Woodcut provided a relatively simple technique that was ideally suited to his imagery, in which mood, and therefore colour were essential.

His prints were exhibited throughout Europe in his lifetime and were an important influence on German Expressionism. Out of a total of 748 prints, the majority are etchings and lithographs, but Munch's enduring influence came through the powerful colour woodcuts. The exhibition includes major examples, including 'Melancholy' and 'The Girls on the Bridge'.

Edvard Munch: Prints is on display from 12 June until 5 September 2009. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated publication (£15 during the exhibition) and events programme. Highlights include a series of Munch related 10 minute lunchtime talks and a special lecture on 18 June by the novelist and specialist on Scandinavian culture, Paul Binding.

Edvard Munch: Prints has been supported by The Norwegian Embassy, J & J Denholm Limited, the Scottish Government in conjunction with Arts & Business Scotland, The Chancellor's Fund and The Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust.

For further information, visit the exhibition website at www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/munch/

Hunterian Art Gallery
University of Glasgow
82 Hillhead Street
Glasgow G12 8QQ

Open Monday - Saturday, 9.30am - 5.00pm
Closed Sundays and 18 - 20 July inclusive
Admission free

Munch Events

Munch Lunchtime Talks

16 June, 21 July and 18 August
12.45pm
Hunterian Art Gallery

As part of the Hunterian 10 Minute Talk programme, these special talks relate to the Edvard Munch: Prints exhibition.

16 June - Edvard Munch and August Strindberg by Dr Grischka Petri

21 July - Edvard Munch and the Philosophers Gloom by Dr Susan Stuart

18 August - Edvard Munch and Norwegian Theatre by Peter Arnott Admission free.

Special Munch Lecture

Thursday 18 June
1.30pm
Hunterian Art Gallery lecture theatre

Critic and novelist Paul Binding will speak on 'Munch and his Norwegian background'. Paul Binding's last book dealt with the subject of the artist in Ibsen's plays.

Admission free

The Summer School

27 - 31 July 2009
10.00am - 12.00pm for ages 5 - 7 Years and 1.00pm - 3.00pm for ages 8 - 12 years.
Hunterian Art Gallery

Art classes for kids in the Hunterian Art Gallery, inspired by the 'Edvard Munch: Prints' exhibition.

For further details or to book call: 0141 330 2375 or email
£250 for the 5 day course, all materials and equipment supplied.

Edvard Munch:Prints

Edvard Munch: Prints is dedicated to prints by Edvard Munch (1863-1944) and will be the most substantial display to be exhibited in the UK in over 35 years. Featuring 40 of the finest prints from throughout Munch's career, the works have been chosen to illustrate his development as a graphic artist, as well as the important themes of his art. The show will include the iconic black and white lithograph 'The Scream', which is one of the most famous pictures in the world. This will be the last chance for visitors to see this print outside Norway, as the Hunterian will be the last Art Gallery to receive the work on loan. Other works include the controversial lithograph 'Madonna', the striking 'Self-portrait' lithograph and the atmospheric woodcut 'Melancholy'.

Prints are an important aspect of Munch's art and the 40 works on show represent the full range of his printmaking, in each of the techniques he used: etching, lithography and woodcut. Munch is Norway's greatest painter and was an enormously influential artist. Prints enabled Munch to exhibit widely throughout Europe and helped to spread his influence.

Munch was born in Loten, but grew up in Kristiania (Oslo). His earliest works were Impressionist in style, but he achieved an artistic breakthrough with his painting 'The Sick Child' in 1886. This was the first of many works that explore human, psychological suffering, reflecting his own painful childhood experiences as well as encapsulating ideas about love promoted by Bohemian writer friends in Oslo. Only later was it recognsied as one of the first works of the new Expressioniost movement.

Munch travelled to Paris in the period 1889 -1892 to study and acquaint himself with new developments in art. He lived mainly in Berlin (1893 - 1909), another major cultural centre, and he began making prints there in 1894, initially from a desperate need to publicise his paintings. By 1904 prints provided Munch with the means to make a living, and crucially they found him the encouragement of collectors and fellow artists. He was an artist who continually pondered, revised and repeated his images, and the prints are frequently the finest and most powerful versions of his subjects. His large woodcuts, printed in colour using an innovative technique, were a major influence on German Expressionism. From the 1890s Munch exhibited his works as a series about the life of the soul, working towards what he later called his 'Frieze of Life', with sections devoted to love, anxiety and death. In retrospect we see that this series was the natural product of the mind of a graphic artist, and one familiar with earlier prints. After a nervous breakdown in 1908, Munch returned to Norway but contributed to important exhibitions, most notably the Cologne Sonderbund show of 1912 in which he was hailed (alongside Van Gogh and Gauguin) as one of the founders of Expressionism.

Munch's greatest prints were made in the decade 1895-1905, but the artist continued painting and making prints until his death in 1944. The exhibition includes examples of the best work from all periods, including the impressive large woodcut 'The Girls on the Bridge' of 1918, which shows the pier in the village of Asgardstrand where the artist retreated each summer to paint.

Edvard Munch: Prints runs from 12 June - 5 September 2009. Admission is free.

The exhibition has been supported by J&J Denholm Limited and the Chancellor's Fund.

Edvard Munch: Prints will be on show at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, from 18 September - 6 December 2009.

More information can be found at:Further information and images