Mela Muter (1876 Warsaw - 1967 Paris), Pair of paintings: Street in Avignon and View of the Bell Tower of the Church of Saint-Didier

Street in Avignon

oil, cardboard glued on plywood, 46 × 33.5 cm

Signed l. d.: "Muter"

View of the bell tower of the Church of Saint-Didier

oil, cardboard pasted on plywood, 46 × 33.5 cm

" [...] The paintings of Mrs. M. Muter were placed in a prominent place, in the first room. [...] landscapes from the South live their own life extremely focused, firm and painful in their tension, and yet without a trace of resignation or passive despair [...] ".
E. Woroniecki, "Artyści polscy w Paryskim Salonie", in Tygodnik Ilustrowany 1924, no. 7, p. 100.


After the outbreak of World War II, Mela Muter left Paris and went to the south of France. She initially settled in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and then in Avignon. There she settled at 12 Velonterie St. She worked at the girls' school College Saint-Marie, where she taught drawing, literature and art history. Avignon becomes very close to the artist. After the end of the war, Melania returned to Paris, but in the summer she returns to Avignon. Here the city authorities offered the artist an apartment at Quai de la Linge 24, located at the foot of the papal palace and gardens. In Avignon itself, the artist had solo exhibitions, including in 1948 and 1958. Provençal views of Avignon and its surroundings appear very often in Melani's work. In addition to the characteristic fortification walls, monuments, and stone bridges of Avignon, the artist often immortalized the ordinary streets of the medieval city, a wonderful example of which is the pair of paintings included in the auction catalog. The paintings bear recognizable characteristics for Melani's paintings. A thickly applied layer of paint gives the works an almost sculptural feel. The rough texture of the works, almost coming out of the frames of the works, is alive, pulsating. Mela does not focus on faithful reproduction of streets, houses. Tightly framed streets with synthetically framed geometric blocks of house buildings seem to almost dominate the solitary walker, finding shade and respite among the medieval, sun-warmed walls. In one of the auction works, the soaring bell tower of the Saint-Didier Church can be seen emerging from behind the roofs of the houses. Both compositions are in a muted color palette, with predominantly gray and ochre tones, with accents of purple, pink and blue.