Jon-Ove Steihaug

A beautifully illustrated catalogue on the most comprehensive and ambitious full-scale retrospective of Munchs artistic oeuvre ever. In conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edvard Munch (18631944) in 2013, a once in a lifetime exhibition is produced by the Munch Museum and the National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design in Oslo. Munch 150 is the most comprehensive and ambitious full-scale retrospective of Munchs artistic oeuvre ever. It includes both an exceptional number of highlights, as well as some works that are less known, and is based on extensive loans from public and private collections. The exhibition and its catalogue encompass the entire development of Munchs art from the 1880s to his death in 1944; the primary focus will be on Munchs paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs. They cover Munchs oeuvre in an overarching perspective: Self-presentation and self-portraiture; Places and perception; Visual rhetoric; The Frieze of Life as a lifelong project; Munch and public life; Narration and abstraction; Figure and representation; The staging of gender; and The construction of Munch after 1944. The catalogue also reflects Munch scholarship from recent decades revitalizing the artists importance, and include a timeline, a biography, and an index of names and places.

A revised edition of the most comprehensive monograph on Munch Though The Scream is undoubtedly his best-known piece, Edvard Munch's body of work extends far beyond this silent howl to encompass a wide practice across paint, pastel and print. The joint effort of ten scholars, and first published in 2013 to great acclaim, this volume offers a comprehensive survey of Munch's inimitable contributions to modern art. The publication covers many aspects of Munch's versatile artistic practice, with a focus on specific themes and phenomena that characterize his work. The texts offer a fresh look at Munch's oeuvre in the context of modernism, highlighting the issues that the artist grappled with throughout his career: the relationship between art and reality, the artist and the public, and Munch's misgivings about modernism and his place in the world. With a thorough bibliography, a timeline of the artist's life, and excerpts of Munch's own writing, this monograph proves to be a most comprehensive tribute to the artist. Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was born in rural Norway before his parents moved to Oslo (then called Kristiana). He grew up under the influence of frequent family illness, both mental and physical, and would later use his art as a means of expressing his turbulent psychological state. He studied at the Royal School of Art and Design in Oslo and spent time in Paris and Berlin. Most of his work managed to survive the Nazi purges of "degenerate art."