Ernst Ludwig Kirchner counts among the most important Modern Artists. Born in 1880 in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, Germany, he began studying architecture at the Königliche Technische Hochschule (Royal Technical College) in Dresden, Saxony, in 1901. He received his degree in 1905, having spent a year in Munich in between. The same year he founded the highly important artists group “Die Brücke” (The Bridge), the epitome of German expressionism together with Erich Heckel and Karl Schmitt-Rottluff. Kirchner\'s studio became a venue, which overthrew social conventions to allow casual lovemaking and frequent nudity. Group life-drawing sessions took place, using models from the social circle, rather than professionals. (1) In 1913 Kirchner showed his works at the legendary “Armory Show”, his first major exhibition. 1933 his work was declared to be “degenerate art” and more than 600 of his works were either destroyed or sold off (via Switzerland). In 1938 he took his life at Frauenkirch-Wildboden near Davos (Switzerland).

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Zwei sitzende Mädchen, um 1909, Tuschfeder, 48,8 x 59,5 cm

His early works show some influence of late impressionist painting, but he soon developed his expressive style with strong, vivid colours in marked contrasts, figures with serrated outlines and elongated forms (a revealing similarity between mannerism and expressionism) and a perfect mixture of classical and contemporary subjects, including social comment. He was also a prolific printmaker as well as a sculptor, and he, too, was impressed by tribal art, which he had seen in the Dresden museums.

Although Kirchner was very much contemporary, he also had aspects of a recluse. In a letter from Davos (1919) he wrote that the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde had written to him, urging him to return to modern life. Kirchner went on: „For me this is out of the question. Nor do I regret it. (. . .) The delights the world affords are the same everywhere, differing only in their outer forms. 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." (2)

In his famous landscapes the single motifs like mountains and trees somehow come together on the canvas like people in city streets. They all come from somewhere, go somewhere, carrying their individual history with them.

The rendering, especially of the street scenes is mostly angular, slightly elongated, a little distorted, therefore forcing the eye to take a long path, which enhances the expressive values of the images.

Turnfest von Davos, um 1925, Aquarell über Vorzeichnung und schwarzer Kreide, 51 x 33,5 cm

He said about his art: “Every picture I create has its origin in an experience of nature. Here I follow Dürer, who said that art comes from nature, he who can pull it from her, he has got it. Nature, for me, is all that can be seen and felt in this world, the mountain like the atom, the tree and the cell that builds it, but also all created by man, like machines and so forth. All biological, technical, and scientific knowledge is valuable for my work, but my relation to this is different from that of a biologist or engineer. The modern light of the cities, together with the movement in the streets, gives me new inspiration. A new beauty encompasses the world, one that is not tied to the singularity of the figurative. Having probed into this multi-layered problem, also the great outdoors changed its face for me. Observing movement gives me the heightened awareness of life, which is the origin of the work of art.” (3)

When Kirchner defines his awareness of life as the origin of the artwork, it is clear that all his creativeness is governed by this and that the beauty of a work comes from the coincidence of effects and feelings, not from the classical categories like symmetry and harmony. Expressionism is, indeed, linked to the subjective cloud of feelings in the artist’s mind. This is a very similar structure to the “inner monologue” of writers such as James Joyce (“Ulysses”, 1922).

Kirchner paints with colours which are chosen for their emotional values, chooses forms for their expressive effects. So his art is also a form of self-realisation, but one within a socially communicative context.

(1) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Ludwig_Kirchner

(2) Quoted after Donald Goddard at http://www.newyorkartworld.com/reviews/kirchner.html

(3) Quoted after http://www.kunstzitate.de/bildendekunst/manifeste/kirchner1.htm

Exhibition:

Ein Hauch von Eden