Breaking The Modernist Mold: New Media And New Issues, Kathleen Munn: Untitled I, 1926-28

Kathleen Munn: Untitled I, 1926-28
Name
Institution
Kathleen Munn: Untitled I, 1926-28
As ideas spread, people seem to change and adapt to the new systems and procedure of doing things. The art world is one field which was and still is impacted by the spread of ideas. In the past, people and artists were mainly passive and inflexible which meant that little growth took place. However, like today, there were individuals who chose to challenge the status quo and to move further and beyond the societal expectations and limits. One such person is Kathleen Munn who is described by Georgina Uhlyarik as “among the few early twentieth-century Canadian artists to experiment with modern art techniques and styles, such as Post-Impressionism, Cubism, and Synchronism.” Munn’s art was revolutionary and a revolution by itself because she challenged and stretched the conservative approach to art. In the past, change was almost seen as sin and therefore, a majority of people opted to maintain the status quo. However, through her pieces such as the Untitled I, Munn encompassed some of the modernist ideas she had adopted and made it clear that modernism was indeed there to stay.
According to Uhlyarik, “in Yearbook of Arts in Canada, 1928 – 1929 (edited by Bertram Brooker), Frederick Housser wrote about Munn, echoing other critics’ assessment that Toronto audiences were not ready for her “advanced” art; he also inaccurately referred to her as a recluse.” The above words are indeed reminiscent of an inflexible conservatist who was not yet aware of the shift or change. The Untitled I which Munn painted in fr...