Galerie Henze & Ketterer & Triebold
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the female Nude
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the female Nude
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Kirchner was particularly inspired by the naked human body, especially the female nude. Whether in the studios in Dresden, Berlin and Davos, or at the Moritzburg ponds, on the beaches of the island of Fehmarn and in the forests of Davos, Kirchner repeatedly depicted Erna, his partner and permanent muse, models, friends who came to visit, dancers and farmers' daughters, and was inspired by their naked skin to create wonderful compositions. What is more immediate than the naked body for the representation of natural movement? He will certainly have been regarded as an eccentric, especially in Davos.
Lying, sitting, standing or kneeling, they present themselves to the viewer and never seem artificial in their posture, as if a moment of movement is always captured. At the toilet, at the hairdressing, at washing, at swimming, at dancing, at playing, at sports, resting or entertaining.
Image Credit:
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Liegender Akt (Reclining Nude) Woodcut, 1911. Dube H 184. 20 x 27,8 on 35,5 x 44 cm.
...to study the nude, the foundation of all pictorial art, in total freedom and naturalness. From.... this basis there emerged the feeling, shared by all, of taking creative stimulus from life itself and submitting to the decisive experience. (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1913)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, in 'Chronik KG Brücke', 1913; a quoted by Wolf-Dieter Dube, Der Expressionismus in Wort und Bild (Genf and Stuttgart: Skira, Klett-Cotta, 1983), p. 34; as quoted in 'Portfolios', Alexander Dückers; in German Expressionist Prints and Drawings - Essays Vol 1.; published by Museum Associates, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California & Prestel-Verlag, Germany, 1986, p. 68.
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Nelly and Sidi in Dresden, two models of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, photograph, 1910-11.
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Artisten an Ringen (und Trapez) (Artists on Rings (and Trapeze)), Oil on canvas, 1923/1928. Gordon 0746. 100 x 75 cm.
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wigman-Tänzerinnen (Wigman Dancers), 1926, red chalk and charcoal on light grey paper, 34,5 x 48 cm.
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Badende im Waldbach (Bathers in Pound)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
1923
25 x 31 on 34,5 x 48,5 cm.
Etching (on copper) on strong satined paper.
Estate of the artist.
One of 8 so far known copies pulled by the artist. With the estate stamp as well as with the numberings R 446 I", "K10442" and "9008" in pencil on the verso
USD 24,000.-
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Zwei Badende (Two Bathing Woman)
1924
30 x 25 on 37 x 30,5 cm.
Etching (on copper) on strong satined paper.
Estate of the artist.
One of 3 so far known copies pulled by the artist. With the estate stamp as well as with the numberings "R 474 II", "C 4342" and "K 9314" in ink and pencil and "8971" and "284/81" in pencil on the verso.
USD 25,000.-
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Badende (Bathing Woman)
1927
29,3 x 25 on 42 x 33,5 cm.
Woodcut on chamois imitated Japan paper.
Estate of the artist.
One of 5 so far known copies pulled by the artist. With the estate stamp as well as with the numbering "H 564 IV" on the verso.
USD 34,000.-
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Badeanstalt (Public Baths)
1936
50 x 37 on 58,8 x 41,3 cm.
Woodcut on imitated Japan paper.
Estate of the artist.
One of 4 so far known copies pulled by the artist. With the estate stamp as well as with the numberings "H Da/Bf 8 II D" in ink and "K 5459", "C 3513" in pencil on the verso.
USD 32,000.-
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) was a co-founder of the artists' group "Die Brücke" in Dresden and an important representative of German Expressionism. Together with Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Max Pechstein, he developed the Brücke style, in which influences from Post-Impressionism, African art and Futurism were processed. Having moved to Berlin in 1912, Kirchner "involuntarily volunteered" to serve in World War I. He moved to Davos, Switzerland, where he dedicated himself to the Alpine landscape in the 1920s. After the " annexation " of Austria by Nazi troops, the internationally successful artist, defamed as "degenerate", developed the idea that Switzerland would be the next country to be invaded. It was probably for this reason that Ernst Ludwig Kirchner shot himself on June 15, 1938.
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