TVM Basement: 20th C. Pre WW-I European Art - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Part 1 or 2

Kirchner Part 2
pre WW I
20th Century European Art
20th Century Overview

German Expressionism

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Part 1 of 2 -- The Pre-War Years

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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

born: Aschaffenburg, Saxony, Germany; 6 May 1880
died: Davos, Switzerland; 15 June 1938

The Early Years

1880		Kirshner born in Aschaffenburg; his father, Ernst Kirchner (1847-1921), is a chemist in the paper industry.
1881	1	The family moves to Frankfurt am Main.
1882	2	Birth of his brother, Hans Walter (1882-1954).
1887	7	His father is appointed deputy director of the paper factory at Perlen, near Lucerne, Switzerland.
1888	8	Birth of another brother, Ulrich (1888-1950).
1890	10	The family moves to Chemnitz in Saxony, where his father is appointed to the chair of paper research. Ernst Ludwig goes to school in Chemnitz.
1892	12	At Easter he enters the royal humanities grammar school.
1894	14	Changes to another grammar school in October, where he remains until his school-leaving exams. His parents nurture his talent, but oppose his wish to be an artist.
1895 and in 1898	15 and 18	With his father in Berlin, he meets his father's old friend Otto Lilienthal, a pioneer aviator.

The Pre World War I Years

1901	21	Finished school. At his father's insistence, Kirchner enrolls in an architecture course during the summer semester at the Technical College of Saxony in Dresden.
1903	23	He sits for his preliminary exams for an architecture diploma. He studies in an art studio run by Wilhelm von Debschitz (1871-1948) and Hermann Obrist (1862-1927), where he takes life drawing classes and a class on graphic art taught by Hugo Steiner-Prag.
1904	24	He continues his architecture studies at the Technical College in Dresden. Meets Erich Heckel from Chemnitz. They become friends. Heckel is also studying architecture, and joins Kirchner and another of Kirchner's friends, Bleyl, in their pursuit of art. He spends the summer with Bleyl drawing in the country near the baroque hunting lodge at Moritzburg near Dresden.

Nude with Foliage Shadows
1905

Reclining Nude (Isabella)
1906
Staatliche Museen,
Kassel, Germany

Fehmarn Houses
1908
Städelsches Kunstinstitut,
Frankfurt am Main

Portrait of a Man - Hans Frisch
1907
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum
San Antonio, TX, US

Bathing Nudes in a Room
1909 (reworked 1926)
Saarland Museum
Saarbrücken, Germany

1910

Heckel meets Marzella and Franzi, sisters who become models for the Brücke artists. He and Heckel stay together at Pechstein's Berlin studio at 14, Durlacher Strasse. The fifth annual Brücke portfolio features two woodcuts and an etching by Kirchner, with a title sheet by Heckel.

In Berlin the New Secession separates from the established Secession group, and the Brücke artists join. In May, at the opening of the New Secession has its first show at the Maximilian Macht gallery, Kirchner meets Otto Müller (1874-1930). He spend the summer at Moritzburg with Heckel, Pechstein, Marzella and Franzi. In September there is a Brücke exhibition at the Ernst Arnold gallery in Dresden—it is Dresden's foremost venue for contemporary art. A catalogue is published, for the first time, illustrated with woodcuts done by the artists after their own paintings.

1911

Kirchner visits Pechstein and Otto Müller in Berlin. Again spends the summer with Heckel at Moritzburg. The sixth annual Die Brücke portfolio appears, including three sheets by Heckel and a title woodcut by Pechstein. Kirchner moves to Berlin, with a studio in the same building as Pechstein. With Pechstein he starts a drawing school; the only students are Hans Gewecke and Wemer Gothein, who become friends. Kirchner meets his future lifelong partner Ema Schilling (1884-1945).

Landscape in Spring 1909 Pfalzgalerie Kaiserlautern, Germany
Couple 1909 Brücke Museum Berlin, Germany	Girl under a Japanese Umbrella 1909 Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf, Germany

Artiste
1910
Brücke Museum
Berlin, Germany

Nudes in the Sun
Moritzburg
1910
Private collection

Standing Nude
with Hat
1910
Städtische Galerie
im Kunstinstitut,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Bosquet:
Square in Dresden
1911
Private Collection

Marzella
1909/1910
Moderna Museet
Stockholm, Sweden

Negro Dancers
1911
Kunstsammlung Nordrheing-Westfalen
Düsseldorf, Germany

1912

The Brücke artists exhibit at the second Blauer Reiter show at the Hans Goltz gallery in Munich. The show moves to Die Stürm's gallery in Berlin. That year there is also a major Brücke exhibition (with catalogue) at Fritz Gurlitt's in Berlin. This show moves to Hamburg later in the year.

Pechstein accepts the invitation to exhibit with the Berlin Secession and as a result he is ostracized from Die Brücke.

Die Brücke artists are invited to show at the Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne. Kirchner and Heckel paint the Sonderbund chapel. Kirchner meets Edvard Munch (1863-1944).

In the summer, a long stay on the Fehmarn, near the Staberhuk lighthouse, with Erna and Gerda Schilling, and a visit from Heckel.

In the autumn, Die Brücke shows in a Prague artists' association exhibition. Kirchner meets writer Alfred Döblin (1878-1957) and paints his portrait during the winter.

1913

Die Brücke exhibits in the Neuer Kunstsalon, Munich. One of Kirchner's pictures from the Sonderbund exhibition is included in the Armory Show in New York, Chicago and Boston.

Kirchner writes a Die Brücke charter which outlines the group's philosophy, but the other members reject it.

First solo show at the Folkwang Museum in Hagen (October), and at Fritz Gurlitt's in Berlin (November). Begins painting his street scenes.

Brown Nude at the Window 1912 Private Collection		Striding into the Sea 1912 Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany
Red Elizabeth Riverbank Berlin 1912 Staatsgalerie für moderner Kunst, Munich	Street, Berlin 1913 Metropolitan Museum New York, NY, US	Street Scene in Berlin 1913 Brücke Museum Berlin, Germany
Two Women with Washbasin 1913 Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, Germany	The Toilette A Woman before the Mirror 1913 Georges Pompidou Centre Paris, France	Judgment of Paris 1913 Wilhelm-Hack Museum Ludwigshafen, Germany