Arbeitspause – Mädchen mit der Milchtüte, Barbara Müller-Kageler, © Barbara Müller-Kageler
Arbeitspause – Mädchen mit der Milchtüte (Work Break – Girl with milk carton)
Barbara Müller-Kageler
1974
Oil on hardboard
94 cm x 58 cm
Barbara Müller-Kageler’s painting “Arbeitspause – Mädchen mit der Milchtüte” (Work Break – Girl with milk carton) is today part of the Kunstarchiv Beeskow / Art Archive Beeskow, Germany. Originally, it was part of the public collection of the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) and found its way into the archive after the collapse of the state. The picture shows a young woman, who is drinking milk from a milk carton. Due to content and formal elements, the painting imparts a deep meditative tranquillity.
For the background of the image, the artist applied the colour with a spatula on the surface. Dominant is smooth lilac, with blue, grey and a few spots of rusty red. The apparent stroke of the brush runs diagonally from the lower left to the top right. Some centimetres above the picture’s bottom border is a convex curved green zone. In the foreground, there stands the young woman as half-figure. She wears blue trousers, a rusty red jacket and under it a dark blue top. These colours are repeated in the background and ensure a silent harmony; only the grass green stands out, but it might be understood as complementary contrast to the rusty red of the jacket.
Brown, shoulder-length hair frames the face of the young woman. Her eyelids with long black lashes are lowered, so that she is looking at the blue-white squared milk carton in her hands. While she holds the drinking straw with her left, she sucks concentrated on it. At her right arm bend dangles a net bag with additional blue-white squared milk cartons. Her torso is leaned a little bit backwards, due to the leg position in a slight contrapposto. This gives the whole scenery – in combination with the lowered eyelids – a deep contemplation and détente. Gently, she holds the milk carton in her right hand: in that very moment, nothing is more important, than drinking this milk.
In addition, the composition supports the expressed tranquillity of the painting. The direction of the young woman’s view, passing her nose to the straw and the milk carton, describes a line, which is interrupted by her hand. Nevertheless, that line finds a less rigid extension through the opening of the jacket and points to the green ground. Hence to this line, the upwards movement resulting from the diagonal brushstroke in the background is stopped. In the centre of these two motions is the milk carton, which reflects both directions by its form and the blue-white squares. As decisive resting point it could be assumed, that the artist did not chose this vessel by chance or because it was a typical object in the GDR. Due to its pyramid form and design – the original one of the Tetra Pak – it fits perfectly into the composition.
The interaction of relaxed body posture, the composition and the meshing colouring create a balanced calmness. It is a portrait, which describes the very moment with abstract design tools. Even though the young woman is exposed to the public by the painting, the observer is looking onto a very private situation, which has no need for an outside. The silent privacy of the protagonist counteracts the public view.
As in numerous artworks made in the former GDR, the question arises how the title is connected to the painting. In “Work Break” there are no attributes depicted, which might give an indication, what kind of work the young woman might do. In a conservation between the artist and Claudia Jansen, the painter clarified that she made drawings on schoolyards and that the model was a friend of hers. The original issue was the representation of the youth. Therefore, the title is misleading, but understandable in the context of state commissioned art. In changing or adding a title, conform to a costumer chosen subject the artist could maintain a certain liberty.
In consequence, one might ask about the topicality of the over 40 years old painting from a no longer existing state. True, it could be difficult to find such a private tranquillity nowadays. In particular, young people in the western hemisphere are more expected to be seen with their smartphones and tablets, during their break. Even though they are often fully concentrated, it is difficult to find someone in such a relaxed conversation with him/herself. Nevertheless, Barbara Müller-Kageler’s painting could be a plea to allow us from time to time an inner contemplation in our multimedia conversation characterised world.
Barbara Müller-Kageler
Born 1938 in Berlin, Germany, Barbara Müller-Kageler studied first art pedagogy at the Humboldt-Universität in East Berlin (Humboldt-University) and worked as an art teacher at a Berlin school. From 1962-1982 she had an artistic lectureship at the Humboldt-University. In parallel, she followed studies at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weiβensee (Academy of Art) and made her diploma in painting 1966. There, she had a teaching position since 1982. Ten years later, she was appointed professor. Since 2003, she is emeritus professor and works as independent artist.
Already in the times of the GDR Barbara Müller-Kageler’s artistic work was recognised: in 1976 she was granted the Berlinpreis des Magistrats von Groβ-Berlin (Berlin-award of the municipal council of East Berlin). From 1967 until its dissolution in 1990, she was member in the Verband Bildender Künstler der DDR (Association of Visual Artists of the GDR). Therefore, she was able to undertake several study trips inter alia to Cyprus, Hungary, France and Central Asia. After 1990, working stays led her to Italy, France, Portugal and Switzerland. Also, she stayed several times on the German island Rügen. She had numerous personal and group exhibitions in Germany and Europe, but as well in Japan, Russia and Iraq.
Barbara Müller-Kageler lives and works in Berlin.
www.barbara-mueller-kageler.de
Kunstarchiv Beeskow (Art Archive Beeskow)
The Art Archive Beeskow developed after the collapse of the GRD 1989/90. Today it hosts about 23.000 objects, from which the biggest part is printed graphic and approx. 1.600 paintings. Moreover, there are drawings, watercolours, photos, sculptures and craft objects. It is the biggest European collection of artworks that were created in the GDR. Originally, they were all property of the eastern German parties, social organisations and state institutions. In consequence, all the pieces have in common, that they were presented in public buildings, had been commissioned or had been bought by state organisations directly from the artist. The mission of the archive is the documentation of fine arts in the GDR.
1990 the last East German Minister for Culture, Herbert Schirmer, decided to gather the artworks, because he was aware that otherwise a lot of them would vanish in the transition phase. He wanted to conserve the objects as genuine documents of testimony. Schirmer found a like-minded partner in the general director of the Kulturfonds (culture fund), Wolfgang Patig, who wanted to collect artworks payed by the culture fund or the ministry. A part of this initial collection went into the museum collections of eastern Germany. The remaining objects came 1992 to Beeskow Castle, to the Cultural and Educational Centre founded in 1991.
In parallel, the Treuhandanstalt (public trust organisation to privatise eastern German state property) made an inventory of special assets from the parties and mass organisations. In 1994, the trust organisation wanted to return artworks to the original regions. The regional governments of Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania decided to concentrate their objects in Beeskow. Since the completion of the inventory in 1996, the scientists have started to work on a collection catalogue. In addition, they are organising exhibitions and conferences to make the collection accessible to the public and to stimulate a critical discussion about the artistic heritage of the GDR.
By: Claudia Jansen & Astrid Gallinat