Charles Muench: Strokes of Emotion

by Chérie L. Turner

Brushstrokes are footprints of an artist's emotions," says Charles Muench. The paintings of this Markleeville, California-based artist capture the sublime, ever-changing moods of nature, but up close, they are so much more than their subjects. The canvases come alive with the emotions that created them—and the passion of this life-long artist.

Whether he paints a landscape, portrait or still life, Muench's canvases are imbued with technical prowess, the result of years of devotion to his craft. He decided at the age of 15 that he wanted to be a professional painter and pursued his art education at U.C. Santa Barbara, San Jose State University, New York's Art Students League and National Academy, and in Spain, where he studied the works in the Museo del Prado and took instruction at Circulo Bellas Artes. Although he explored a wide range of genres during his studies, Muench always returned to landscape painting. He credits San Jose State University art instructor Maynard Dixon Stewart with "getting me going." Interestingly, Stewart is the son of LeConte Stewart, an accomplished landscape painter who was a friend of Maynard Dixon, the "first modernist landscape painter," says Muench.

Muench's exposure to Dixon through Stewart greatly influenced his work, notably Dixon's simplification and editing of the landscape. So too is Muench influenced by painters of the Bravura, or "broad stroke," movement, especially by American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923) and Swedish artist Anders Leonard Zorn (1860-1920).

"On one level, the work of the Bravura painters is telling you something about, say, the quality of air at this place at the time, or light on a winter afternoon," says Muench. "But on another level, it's just very noticeably paint." As in the work of these earlier artists, the obvious texture of Muench's brushstrokes imbues his work with a spontaneous, abundant spirit.

After his worldly education, Muench returned to his native San Jose to take up life as a painter. He remained there for 28 years working as an artist, art teacher and occasional bartender. Though most of his work was created in his studio, he often took trips to the mountains seeking inspiration.

"I really wasn't turned on with Wal-Marts and strip malls," he says. And this was evident in his work. His early studio paintings, oftentimes depicting still lifes or human figures, are dark and heavy, whereas the landscape paintings are light and inspired. "People saw that when I would go to Tahoe or the coast to paint," says Muench, "there was a lot more texture and a lighter look to my work, that it almost looked like works from two different painters. I finally realized, ‘I can't have that.'"

So on one fateful day, returning from a painting/backpacking expedition to the Kearsarge Pinnacles and inspired by a "good Bloody Mary at the Whiskey Creek Bar in Bishop, California," Muench decided to move to the Sierra Nevada. Within a year, he relocated to the idyllic small town of Markleeville.

"As soon as I moved up here it felt right," he says of the transition, now three years past. "Being a representational painter, I react to my surroundings. My work now reflects this small rural mountain town and the beauty of the eastern Sierra."

Muench's paintings are now all about landscape. "I'm incorporating the figure in the environment," explains Muench. "I want my figurative work to be related to and intertwined with the surroundings up here." Even his still life—he has only painted one since he moved—incorporated nature. "I set it up in the window of my studio," Muench explains, about arranging the objects for his painting. "It was during a snowstorm, so instead of a dark still life with fruit in a bowl, this one had a background of snow-laden trees. I've decided that I'm going to do four still lifes a year—one for every season. I love the qualities of nature in its extremes, be it a snowstorm, or the peak of fall colors."

How has his move to the mountains influenced Muench's style? "My texture has become a lot more impasto. A lot of the time I feel like nature is giving me a lesson. Like when doing a painting of Markleeville just after a big snow, it required a pallet knife because the scene had so much snow. I just wanted to goop the paint on. Or when trying to capture movement of a stream, it requires you to sling paint, move that brush and try not to mess with it. Working with nature is like jazz improvisation. Nature throws you a rhythm and you react to it."

Muench has also become interested in promoting the talent in this quiet corner of the Sierra. With two other local artists—sculptor and print artist Gena Gigli, and nationally recognized topiary sculptor Jeff Breeze—he has created the Markleeville Art Tour, which celebrates its third anniversary this October 8–9. "We have between ten and twelve artists," says Muench, "from jewelers to fine artists to sculptors and photographers." Last year the event drew over 250 people. Not coincidentally, October is the month when the eastern Sierra is ablaze with the colors of fall.

There is little doubt in this artist's mind that he has found his Shangri-la. "If I bought a lottery ticket and won, what would I be doing?" asks Muench. "It wouldn't be much different from what I am doing right now."

Muench's work is found locally at Pogan Gallery in Tahoe Vista, and also at www. charlesmuench.com.