Picture "Nude Bather with Yellow Sculpture" (1926) (Unique piece)
Picture "Nude Bather with Yellow Sculpture" (1926) (Unique piece)
Quick info
unique piece | signed | dated | stamped | watercolour | framed | size 78 x 61 cm
Detailed description
Picture "Nude Bather with Yellow Sculpture" (1926) (Unique piece)
The painting "Nude Bather with Yellow Sculpture" by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner depicts a fascinating scene that takes place in an almost intimate setting. The central figure, a nude bather, stands in a dynamic pose in the foreground, surrounded by strong, contrasting colours and expressive lines that define both the space and the atmosphere.
At the centre of the composition, the "yellow sculpture" attracts attention - a sculptural element that not only dominates the scene, but can also be interpreted as a key motif of the work. The yellow sculpture adds a modern, almost futuristic dimension and stands out from the organic flow of the rest of the depiction with its striking colouring and geometric form. It creates a tension between the movement of the bathers and the static presence of an artificial object.
This work illustrates Kirchner's love of experimentation and his exploration of space as an artistic medium. The interaction between the bather and the yellow sculpture opens up a dialogue between body and art, between dynamics and statics.
In terms of art history, this work is a remarkable example of Kirchner's innovative approach to the interplay of space, figure and object in his later creative phase. It points to the influence of modern forms and materials and demonstrates how Kirchner localised traditional themes such as the nude in a new, visionary context.
Watercolour over lead, 1926. Signed and dated. Basel estate stamp on the back. Motif size/sheet size 50 x 35 cm. Size in frame 78 x 61 cm as shown.
Producer: ARTES Kunsthandelsgesellschaft mbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hannover, Deutschland E-Mail: info@kunsthaus-artes.de
About Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
1880-1938
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was one of the founders of the artist‘s group "Die Brücke" (The Bridge) and one of the most important representatives of Expressionism. His oeuvre includes around 30,000 paintings, drawings, sketches and sculptures.
When a person's fear becomes too great and the purpose of life is not only threatened but also taken away, it is often only seen one way out: self-chosen death. This is what happened to Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who took his own life by gunshot on a mountain pasture above Davos on 15 June 1938. Before that, however, he destroyed his woodblocks and a large number of his sculptures out of fear of the invasion of German troops.
Kirchner was born in Aschaffenburg, Germany, on 6 May 1880 but moved to Switzerland on 13 October 1918. After several stays in sanatoriums because of severe depression and drug abuse in Germany, his friends admitted him to the doctor Ludwig Spengler in Davos.
The First World War, for which Kirchner volunteered for military service, triggered his anxiety. His "Self-Portrait as a Soldier" of 1915 was a testimony to his inner state of mind.
Kirchner was a painter who always reproduced his immediate surroundings in oil, woodcut, etching and also sculpture. Therefore, his work is structured through several phases. As a co-founder of the artist‘s group "Die Brücke" in 1905, he represented a strongly colourful and expressive style of painting, the themes of which are mainly the so-called "quarter-hour nudes" as well as city scenes of Dresden and Berlin. With the "discovery" of open-air painting, the nudes moved from the studio to the open air, in 1904 to the Moritzburg lakes, and from 1908 to Fehmarn.
After the ending of the group "Die Brücke" in 1913, Kirchner chose Berlin street scenes as a new motif, depicting the milieu of the cocottes with hard strokes and black outlines. For a long time, a critical view of the fringe groups of society took over from his paradisiacal landscape painting.
It was not until he returned to Switzerland that he found inner peace and equilibrium. His Swiss paintings of the 1920s are captivating for their colour harmonies and flowing forms.
In addition to painting and graphic art, the artist, who lived in an alpine hut, also devoted himself to sculpture. However, the National Socialists' seizure of power and the defamation of 639 of his works as "degenerate art" once again fuelled the fears of the sensitive artist and led him to his tragedy.
Painting with glazing watercolours, that are characterised by their transparency, which let deeper layers and painting surfaces shine through.
Often the paper surface is omitted. This contributes significantly to the effect of the work. The aquarelle or watercolour painting requires skilful use of colour, as it dries quickly and corrections are almost impossible.
A one-of-a-kind or unique piece is a work of art personally created by the artist. It exists only once due to the type of production (oil painting, watercolour, drawing, lost-wax sculpture etc.).
In addition to the classic unique pieces, there are also the so-called "serial unique pieces". They present a series of works with the same colour, motif and technique, manually prepared by the same artist. The serial unique pieces are rooted in "serial art", a genre of modern art that aims to create an aesthetic effect through series, repetitions, and variations of the same objects or themes or a system of constant and variable elements or principles.
The historical starting point is considered to be Claude Monet's "Les Meules" (1890/1891), where, for the first time, a series was created that went beyond a mere group of works. The other artists, who addressed to the serial art, include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and above all Gerhard Richter.