Jan Müller (December 27, 1922 – January 29, 1958) was a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-based figurative

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

artist of the 1950s. According to art critic

Carter Ratcliff Carter Ratcliff (born 1941 in Seattle, Washington) is an American art critic, writer and poet. His books on art include ''John Singer Sargent'' (Abbeville Press, 1982); ''John Singer Sargent'' (Masterpiece Edition) (Abbeville Press, 2023); '' Robe ...

, "His paintings usually erect a visual architecture sturdy enough to support an array of standing, riding, levitating figures. Gravity is absent, banished by an indifference to ordinary experience." According to the poet John Ashbery, Müller "brings a medieval sensibility to neo-

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

paintings."

Biography

Jan Müller was born on December 27, 1922, in

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, Germany. In 1933 his family fled the

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, and later to Bex-les-Bains, Switzerland;Vivian Endicott Barnett; Thomas M. Messer; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
‘’ Handbook, the Guggenheim Museum collection, 1900-1980; Jan Müller, 1922-1958’’
(New York : The Museum, 1980.) , pp.464-465, there he experienced the first of several attacks of rheumatic fever. He visited Paris in 1938 and two years later was apprehended and interned in a camp near

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Shortly after the fall of Paris, Müller was released, at which time he moved to Ornaisons, near

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. Following an unsuccessful attempt to escape to the United States from

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, he was able to cross the border into Spain in 1941 and proceed via Portugal to New York. Jan Müller began to study art in 1945. * The

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, New York City, for six months *

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

School of Fine Arts for five years He became a US citizen in 1957. Jan Müller died on January 29, 1958, at the age of thirty-five, in New York.

Selected solo exhibitions

* 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958: Cooperative Hansa Gallery, New York City, which he founded with

Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American performance artist, installation artist, painter, and assemblagist . He helped to develop the " Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. ...

and Richard Stankiewicz * 1955, 1956: The Sun Gallery,

Provincetown Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Pr ...

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* 1960:

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

* 1961: Zabriskie Gallery, NYC * 1962: ''Jan Müller: 1922–1958'' organized by the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

, NYC * 1970, 1971, 1972: Noah Goldowsky * 1976, 1977: Gruenebaum Gallery, NYC * 1980: Rosa Esman Gallery, NYC

Selected group exhibitions

* 1952: 813 Broadway (Gallery), NYC * 1953:

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...

* 1955: University of Minnesota * 1955, 1956: ''Stable Show, Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture'', Stable Gallery, NYC * 1957: ''The New York School, Second Generation,'' Jewish Museum, NYC; ''Young America,''

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, NYC * 1958: Carnegie,

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; ''Festival of Two Worlds'',

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Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, Italy * 1958, 1959: Institute of Contemporary Art,

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, MA * 1959: ''New Images of Man,''

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, NYC * 1960: American Federation of Arts, circ., NYC * 2009: ''Days Lumberyard Studios, Provincetown, MA, 1915-1972'',
ACME Fine Art
Boston, MA;

Collections

* Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte,

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, NYC *

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art, formerly known as the Newark Museum, in Newark, New Jersey is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia (including a large collection of T ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

* Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

References

* Paul Cummings
''Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists,''
(St. Martins Press New York, 1994.) * Martica Sawin, "Jan Müller: 1922-1958," ''Arts,'' vol. 33, Feb. 1959, pp41, repr.,44

Books