Description:
ERNST
LUDWIG
KIRCHNER
(GERMAN
1880-1938)







KOMPLIMENT
DER
ABTRETENDEN
ARTISTIN,
1913







Signed
and
inscribed
'Eigendruck'
in
pencil
to
margin,
bears
artist's
studio
stamp,
Kunstverein
Jena
stamp
and
Galerie
Ferdinand
Moller
stamps
verso,
drypoint







17.5cm
x
20.4cm
(7in
x
8in)



















































Notes:
Literature:






Dube
R.
166
-
Schiefler
R.
153;
Gerken
596,
Bd.
III

Note:
Ernst
Ludwig
Kirchner
was
a
leading
member
of
the
group
of
artists
historically
referred
to
as
the
German
Expressionists.
He
began
his
studies
in
1901
in
Dresden,
studying
architecture
for
four
years,
before
enrolling
at
a
progressive
art
school
in
Munich.
In
1905
Kirchner
co-founded
the
Die
Brücke
(The
Bridge)
group,
alongside
Fritz
Bleyl,
Erich
Heckel,
and
Karl
Schmidt-Rottluff,
with
Otto
Müller,
Emil
Nolde,
and
Max
Pechstein
joining
the
group
later
on.


In
1911,
Kirchner
moved
with
the
Brücke
group
to
Berlin.
The
following
year
Franz
Marc
included
works
by
Brücke
artists
in
the
second
show
of
the
Blaue
Reiter
(the
Blue
Rider)
at
Heinrich
Thannhauser''s
Moderne
Galerie
in
Munich,
and
a
link
between
the
two
avant-garde
groups
was
established.
The
groups
both
produced
illustrated
periodicals,
and
Kirchner''s
skill
as
a
graphic
artist
is
especially
apparent;
as
important
a
feature
in
his
practise
as
his
painting.
Feeling
himself
to
be
part
of
an
established
German
tradition,
Kirchner
was
inspired
by
the
woodcuts
of
Albrecht
Durer,
and
had
produced
his
own
prints
since
his
early
days
in
Munich
(indeed
Die
Brucke
are
credited
with
the
invention
of
the
medium
of
the
linocut).
Japanese
prints
and
the
simplicity
of
African
and
Oceanic
art
were
also
of
significant
influence.


The
move
to
Berlin
proved
to
be
pivotal
in
Kirchner''s
work,
providing
the
artist
with
ample
inspiration.
He
felt
(or
perhaps
sensed
in
the
years
which
foreshadowed
the
First
World
War)
that
powerful,
primal
forces
moved
beneath
the
veneer
of
Western
respectability,
and
this
was
no
more
apparent
than
in
this
newly
wealthy,
densely
populated
city.
He
walked
frequently,
sketching
the
passers
by
moving
in
and
out
of
the
department
stores
in
their
sharp
tailoring,
or
soliciting
on
the
streets
in
their
furs.
The
circus,
as
depicted
in
the
work
offered
here
for
sale,
was
the
perfect
cipher
for
the
chaotic
undertones
which
were
beginning
to
swirl.
High
and
low
class
mingled
together,
and
the
vitality
and
energy
of
the
human
form
was
captured
in
his
jagged,
scratched
mark-making.
Our
performer,
a
female
acrobat,
is
trapped
inside
a
claustrophobic
ring
of
observers.


This
dry
point
etching
was
produced
in
1913
for
Kirchner''s
first
major
print
exhibition
at
the
Kunstverein
Jena
in
1914.
The
Kunstverein
Jena
was
established
in
1903,
by
archaeologist
Botho
Graef,
Kirchner''s
patron.
It
is
exceedingly
scarce;
one
of
only
three
known
examples.
Further,
it
bears
the
inscription
''Eigendruck'',
translating
roughly
as
''own
print'',
or
artist''s
proof.
Also
present
are
stamps
from
the
Kunstverein
Jena,
and
from
the
Galerie
Ferdinand
Möller,
a
dealer
in
Modernist
art
throughout
the
1930s-40s.
This
in
itself
was
a
treacherous
practise
as
the
Nazi
regime
had
labelled
the
work
of
Modern
and
avant-garde
artists
''un-German''
and
''degenerate''.
This
print''s
Kunstverein
Jena
stamp
is
crossed
out,
signifying
the
etching''s
de-accessioning
at
the
orders
of
the
Nazi
party
in
1937,
the
year
they
held
their
infamous
Entartete
Kunst
(''Degenerate
Art'')
exhibition
in
Munich.


Though
Kirchner
enjoyed
solo
shows
throughout
the
1930s
in
Basel,
Bern,
Hamburg,
Munich,
Detroit,
and
New
York,
he
never
fully
recovered
from
the
mental
and
physical
collapse
which
saw
him
discharged
from
the
army
during
World
War
1.
Aghast
at
his
inclusion
in
the
1937
Nazi
organised
exhibition
of
banned
artwork,
the
artist
committed
suicide
in
1938.