Selected Paintings of Marianne von Werefkin
Marianne von Werefkin and The Great Bear Group by Lake Maggiore
In 1924, at the age of 64, Marianne von Werefkin should have been winding down her career. Instead, captivated by the zeitgeist, she founded The Great Bear Group in the quaint town of Ascona by Lake Maggiore close to the Italian-Swiss border. As so often in her career, she was at work, untiringly pushing the boundaries of artistic freedom.
Following the outbreak of World War I, Ascona had become a hub of the avant-guard, modernist art movement to which von Werefkin belonged. Finding herself surrounded by like-minded painters and old acquaintances from her days in Munich, such as Walter Helbig, she set the artistic currents around her in motion to form The Great Bear Group. Similar to the constellation, the group never had more than seven members at any given time. (The number seven – often considered sacred – was also of particular symbolic significance to von Werefkin.) The artists held their first exhibition in the Café Verbano in Ascona. Each artist contributed pieces to the exhibition in their very own style. The key to the group’s dynamic was the acceptance of the artist as an individual, despite stylistic differences.
The Great Bear group - unique to the art world all too often dominated by competition and egocentricity - was in essence a collaboration of friends, a platform that nurtured and shared ideas, created in the vision of an outstanding artist. In early 1938, fourteen years after the group was founded, von Werefkin passed away. Three years later the group was dissolved.
Following the outbreak of World War I, Ascona had become a hub of the avant-guard, modernist art movement to which von Werefkin belonged. Finding herself surrounded by like-minded painters and old acquaintances from her days in Munich, such as Walter Helbig, she set the artistic currents around her in motion to form The Great Bear Group. Similar to the constellation, the group never had more than seven members at any given time. (The number seven – often considered sacred – was also of particular symbolic significance to von Werefkin.) The artists held their first exhibition in the Café Verbano in Ascona. Each artist contributed pieces to the exhibition in their very own style. The key to the group’s dynamic was the acceptance of the artist as an individual, despite stylistic differences.
The Great Bear group - unique to the art world all too often dominated by competition and egocentricity - was in essence a collaboration of friends, a platform that nurtured and shared ideas, created in the vision of an outstanding artist. In early 1938, fourteen years after the group was founded, von Werefkin passed away. Three years later the group was dissolved.