The Remarkable Expressionism of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Art & PhotographyWho, What, Why
As a new exhibition of his dynamic drawings and watercolours opens at the Galerie St. Etienne in New York, we consider the artist's significant oeuvre
TextEdwina Langley
Who? Painter and printmaker Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, born in Bavaria in , was one of Expressionism's most important pioneers. A founding member of the German artists’ group, Die Brücke ('The Bridge') – whose manifesto was "to achieve freedom of life and action against the well-established older forces" – Kirchner's principal aim was to 'bridge' the gap between Germany's conservative past and the more liberal ideas of the present. The work of Edvard Munch and the Fauves undoubtedly impacted his approach (although Kirchner refuted this), while African and South Pacific tribal works were known influences upon the artist's distinctive, fluid style.
In , Kirchner had his first solo show at the Museum Folkwang in Hagen – the same year Die Brücke disbanded. He later served during the First World War but was discharged following a mental breakdown. The s saw a run of solo shows in Basel, Munich, Detroit and New Yo
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a leading figure in the Die Brücke collective that thrived in Berlin and Dresden before World War I, and he has grown to be regarded as one of the most accomplished and important components of German Expressionism. Kirchner had conflicting opinions about the old and new, driven by the same worries that seized the group as a whole &#; misgivings about humanity&#;s role in the contemporary world, its lost sentiments of sanctity and sincerity. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner&#;s artwork such as Group of Four Nudes was centered on the human body. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner&#;s paintings were a dramatic reaction to the Impressionism that dominated German art at the time he first appeared.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Biography
| Nationality | German |
| Date of Birth | 6 May |
| Date of Death | 15 June |
| Place of Birth | Aschaffenburg, Bavaria |
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner&#;s artworks were a reaction to the staid formality of bourgeois existence. He constantly denied being influenced by other painters, yet Edvard Munch and Henri Matisse were definitely influential in defining his aesthetic. Fauvism had a strong influence on his palette, prompting hi
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner () was born in Aschaffenburg, Germany.
He graduated with a diploma in engineering from the Royal College of Science and Technology in Munich in , but was devoted to art, and after graduating, Kirchner and fellow ex-students Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff founded the artist group “die Brücke” (the Bridge) located in Dresden and from in Berlin. “Die Brücke” became an important avant-garde group in Germany until the group was dissolved in following ongoing conflicts between Kirchner and other group members.
In , Kirchner met the dancers Gerda and Erna Schilling who posed for him in subsequent years. Erna became Kirchner’s partner until his death.
After military service in Halle during the first years of the war, Kirchner suffered a mental and physical breakdown and in he moved to Davos, in Switzerland, where the Wildboden House became his home and a contact point for artists, such as Müller and Scherer, who came to visit and work with him.
In , after Kirchner had gained an international reputation, the National Socialists removed of his artworks from museums following the Nazi programme of confiscating “Dege
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner ()
Paintings from this period include Five Bathers by a Lake, ; Negro Dance, ; Milly Sleeping, ; Female Nude with Hat, ; Toilette, Woman in front of a mirror, ; Two women with a Washbasin, and Five Woman in the Street, In , he wrote the Chronicle of the Brucke, which caused in-fighting between the group and led to its collapse.
World War I
At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered to go to the front, but was discharged within a year because of a nervous collapse. He spent the following two years in a sanatorium in Switzerland, only to be hit by a car in sustaining severe injuries. He depicted himself in his painting Self-Portrait as a Soldier, with an amputated hand (this did not happen). In he moved to a farmhouse in Davos, Switzerland, after which he produced mainly landscapes. He wrote to a friend at the time, 'Here one learns how to see further and go deeper than in 'modern' life, which is generally so very much more superficial despite its wealth of outer forms.'
Postwar Era ()
The s were a successful decade for Kirchner, a significant exhibition of his works took place at an art gallery in Basel, which helped
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