1915, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Dr. Ernst Gosebruch -- Courtauld Gallery (London)
From the museum label:
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff were at the centre of Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group founded on the creative potential of printmaking. Described as 'the most graphic of the graphic techniques, the woodcut appealed for the physical craft entailed in carving the resistant material; for its bold forms and visible organic structures; and for the way it forced artists to reduce compositions to the essential.
Ernst Gosebruch, director of the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany, was an important early patron of Kirchner. Variations between the softer textures for skin and background, and the angular, splintered lines that converge on his eyes intensify an expression of intellectual sensitivity. This rare work likely dates from the artist's period of recuperation after a breakdown during military training.
1915, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Dr. Ernst Gosebruch -- Courtauld Gallery (London)
From the museum label:
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff were at the centre of Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group founded on the creative potential of printmaking. Described as 'the most graphic of the graphic techniques, the woodcut appealed for the physical craft entailed in carving the resistant material; for its bold forms and visible organic structures; and for the way it forced artists to reduce compositions to the essential.
Ernst Gosebruch, director of the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany, was an important early patron of Kirchner. Variations between the softer textures for skin and background, and the angular, splintered lines that converge on his eyes intensify an expression of intellectual sensitivity. This rare work likely dates from the artist's period of recuperation after a breakdown during military training.