Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Girl in a Bath
Artist
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
1880 Aschaffenburg - Frauenkirch/Davos 1938
Further information
Verso mit dem Stempel "Unverkäuflich / E L Kirchner". Seltene, frühe Lithografie des Künstlers.
Gercken 261.
Gercken 261.
Exhibition
Nolde, Schmidt-Rottluff und Freunde. Die Sammlung Martha und Paul Rauert. Hamburg 1905–1958, Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg u. a. 1999–2000, Kat.-Nr. 39, Abb. S. 46, verso auf der Rahmenrückpappe mit zwei Etiketten.
Provenance
The artist’s estate, on the reverse bearing the Basel stamp (Lugt 1570b) and the handwritten registration number ‘L 96 I’ as well as the notes ‘K 3490’ and ‘C 1897’;
Martha and Paul Rauert Collection, Hamburg;
Ketterer, Munich 10 June 2017, Lot 213;
Private collection, Northern Germany, acquired from the aforementioned.
Martha and Paul Rauert Collection, Hamburg;
Ketterer, Munich 10 June 2017, Lot 213;
Private collection, Northern Germany, acquired from the aforementioned.
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Description
• Lithograph depicting an intimate bathing scene, which retains its spontaneous, sketch-like character thanks to Kirchner’s direct drawing on the lithographic stone
• A very rare print, of which only five copies are known: two of these are held by the Brücke Museum in Berlin and the National Gallery of Art in Washington
• From the important collection of the Hamburg patron couple Martha and Paul Rauert, who were among the earliest supporters of the ‘Brücke’ artists and Expressionism
Nude depictions have been among Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s principal motifs since the ‘Brücke’ artists’ summer excursions to the Moritzburg Lakes. They appear in numerous variations across various techniques within his extensive body of work. In the nudity of the bathers, Kirchner seeks the naturalness and primal quality that inspires him and drives him to artistic excellence. Alongside outdoor nudes, the motif of the ‘nude in the bath’ in particular became one of his best-known subjects. Instead of depicting them in the great outdoors, he portrays young women and girls going about their daily washing routine in a domestic setting. The lithograph ‘Girl in a Bath Tub’, created in 1908 and printed in only a few copies, is a prime example of this wonderfully intimate subject. Kirchner does not opt for a conventional view, but rather a particularly artistically interesting perspective looking down from above onto the bath tub standing on the floor. In the same year, he produced two further prints with similar motifs (Gercken 261 and 262) as well as the painting ‘Nude in a Bathtub Seen from Above’ (WVZ Gordon 50).
• A very rare print, of which only five copies are known: two of these are held by the Brücke Museum in Berlin and the National Gallery of Art in Washington
• From the important collection of the Hamburg patron couple Martha and Paul Rauert, who were among the earliest supporters of the ‘Brücke’ artists and Expressionism
Nude depictions have been among Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s principal motifs since the ‘Brücke’ artists’ summer excursions to the Moritzburg Lakes. They appear in numerous variations across various techniques within his extensive body of work. In the nudity of the bathers, Kirchner seeks the naturalness and primal quality that inspires him and drives him to artistic excellence. Alongside outdoor nudes, the motif of the ‘nude in the bath’ in particular became one of his best-known subjects. Instead of depicting them in the great outdoors, he portrays young women and girls going about their daily washing routine in a domestic setting. The lithograph ‘Girl in a Bath Tub’, created in 1908 and printed in only a few copies, is a prime example of this wonderfully intimate subject. Kirchner does not opt for a conventional view, but rather a particularly artistically interesting perspective looking down from above onto the bath tub standing on the floor. In the same year, he produced two further prints with similar motifs (Gercken 261 and 262) as well as the painting ‘Nude in a Bathtub Seen from Above’ (WVZ Gordon 50).