Curator's Talk with Gary Monroe

About this event

@ Curated by Gary Monroe, Little is Said, but Much is Heard: The Paintings of Oscar Bluemner and Harry Sonntag features artworks by Oscar Bluemner (1867-1938) from the Vera Bluemner Kouba Collection and Harry Sonntag (1900-1991) from the Walker Collection of Florida Self-Taught Art. Reception: September 10, 6-8 pm Exhibit Dates: September 8 to December 5, 2026 Exhibit sponsored by the Walker Collection of Florida Self-Taught Art CURATOR’S STATEMENT Oscar Bluemner (1867-1938) and Harry Sonntag (1900-1991) shared little public acclaim during their lifetimes, yet both were modernists of uncommon intensity. Each received formal artistic training only to rebel against its constraints. Each painted places deeply personal to them: Sonntag conjured the drifting dreamscapes of Key Largo in the Florida Keys, while Bluemner rendered the charged geometry of the Tri-State area. Both were extraordinary colorists, abstracting their worlds in radically different ways. Bluemner constructed richly hued, near-geometric compositions, whereas Sonntag’s watercolors dissolved into atmospheric reverie—the contrast between the pressures of urban modernity and the languid rhythms of tropical life. Their lives also bore striking similarities. Both struggled financially, lived with profound dissatisfaction, and died with far less recognition than their work arguably deserved. Sonntag was dubbed “the Hermit Artist of Key Largo,” while Bluemner moved within the high-art circle surrounding Alfred Stieglitz, without the sustained attention granted to many of his contemporaries. Admirers of both artists might argue that each transformed personal discontent into artistic vision. Bluemner emigrated to the United States after studying painting and architecture in Berlin. Dissatisfied with architecture, he ultimately became a fulltime artist, exploring color and abstraction within urban spaces and the rapidly changing rural scenes of the Northeast. After attending Pratt Institute in New York…