The beautiful art museum in Thun, Switzerland had an exhibition called The Morgenthaler Continent, with work from the visual artists in and around the family of Ernst and Sasha Morgenthaler.
I notice what a large metaphor 'continent' is compared to the more usual 'circle of friends'. The land we find ourselves in and build around ourselves.
photo: Kunstmuseum, Thun
Sasha Morgenthaler (1893-1975) made dolls, both as art and commercially. Sasha dolls were mass produced from 1965, but began as hand-made, almost sculptures, with asymmetric bodies that stood or sat in a pose, and hand-sewn clothes. I liked this story but not its roots; I quote from the museum leaflet:
"Thanks to Paul Klee's intercession she left the grammar school at the age of sixteen and spent four years at the Art Academy in Geneva. ... in Munich ..she trained under Klee...came into contact with the artists of Der Blaue Reiter... Sasha Morgenthaler quit painting after marriage in favour of her husband, because she couldn't meet her own demands and believed that there could only be one painter in the family."
A sharp intake of breath echoed around the museum at that point.
photo: Kunstmuseum, Thun
This loss reminded me of the painter Rose Hilton who also stopped painting as a young woman after her husband Roger Hilton told her he would be the only painter in their marriage. She started again later and had her work featured in this year's RA Summer Show.
The unfairness of these decisions makes me angry on their behalf. The eventual art-making inspires me. I'm glad that times have changed a little. And I contemplate the continents on which we find ourselves, their possibilities, their barriers, and the forbidden terrains we refuse to enter.