WCGS Reading Group 2018

The winner of this semester’s WCGS Reading Group choice is...Saving Kadinsky, by Mary Basson / Die Malerin, translated by Gabriele Weber-Jaric. What will be really interesting with this book is that it’s the first one in our reading group to have English as its original language.

Synopsis

As they paint together on the Bavarian mountainside, young Gabriele (Ella) Munter falls in love with her married teacher, Wassily Kandinsky. While their illicit love faces the disapproval of early 20th century European society, the two artists forge a partnership that will offer the world its first taste of Abstract Expressionism. Along with Alexei Jawlensky, Franz Marc, and other members of the Blue Rider, Munter and Kandinsky give birth to something truly new in art. Yet the delights of that heady time together are not to last, certainly not past the time of the Nazi purge of "Degenerate Art." That period will test Ella's mettle as well as her dedication to art and to love. Gabriele Munter's life is a tale of courage in the face of personal and historical crisis. Saving Kandinsky is her story.