Woodcut. Signed and inscribed "Handdruck". One of 17 known copies from the first printing stater. On blotting paper. 50 x 39.5 cm. Sheet: 57,5 x 44 cm. [CH]. - Impressive format. - During Kirchner's very first stay on the Stafelalp in 1917, he created 13 woodcuts, which rank among the highlights of Kirchner's oeuvre. - One of the best-known print portraits from the Davos period. - Based on a photograph Kirchner took of the Davos farmer Martin Schmid (Roland Scotti, E. L. Kirchner. Das fotografische Werk, Davos 2005, cat. no. 66). - As the artist did not yet have a printing press at his disposal in Davos, he made the print from the wooden blocks by hand using a roller and bone folder, so that each copy varies slightly in the application of the ink and in its character. - Eight copies of this woodcut are museum-owned: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Art Institute of Chicago, Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge/Mass., Kirchner Museum, Davos, Kunstmuseum Bern, Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatl. Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, and the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. LITERATURE: Gustav Schiefler, Die Graphik Ernst Ludwig Kirchners, vol. 2 (1917-1927), Berlin-Charlottenburg 1931, no. H 277. Annemarie and Wolf-Dieter Dube, E. L. Kirchner. Das graphische Werk, Munich 1967, no. H 308 I (of II). Günther Gercken, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kritisches Werkverzeichnis der Druckgraphik, vol. 4 (1917-1919), Bern 2015, no. 859 I (of II, illu.). - - Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, 698th auction, Moderne Kunst, December 4, 1993, lot 250 (illu., plate 104). Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 267, SHG no. 389 (illu., p. 266). Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 345, SHG no. 776 (illu.).
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001). Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017). Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022). Expressiv! Die Künstler der Brücke. Die Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Albertina Vienna, June 1 - August 26, 2007, p. 272, cat. no. 174 (full-page illu., p. 273)
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032)
During his first stay on the Stafelalp in 1917, Kirchner made a woodcut of the alpine farmer Martin Schmid, a striking document of Kirchner's portrait art with the fascinating Tinzenhorn in the background. And Kirchner not only photographed him, but also his wife, Anna, with their two sons Martin and Hermann, presumably in the summer of 1917. Traces of snow between the beams allow the photo to be dated to the winter of 1918/19. Kirchner returned to Davos in July 1918 after his stay at the sanatorium in Kreuzlingen and lived in the hut that Martin Schmid let him use on the Stafelalp. In September 1920, Kirchner moved into the winter-proof farmhouse "In den Lärchen", which belonged to the Müller family. Hence, each residence is associated with a large number of works, and the variety of media used is also astonishing: in addition to oil paintings, he created woodcuts, etchings, watercolors, drawings, wooden sculptures and carpets. Despite his mental distress and partial paralysis, the first Davos period was extremely fruitful. Kirchner refined his Davos style and increasingly distanced himself from the original "Brücke" style of the Dresden and Berlin periods. [MvL]
In good condition consistent with its age. The sheet is firmly attached to the backing board in the upper corners. The corners of the sheet slightly creased. The upper right corner of the sheet expertly repaired, with a small tear in the seam. The upper left corner of the sheet somewhat thinned on the reverse. Image with very few creases, probably from the making. [EH]
Lot Details
Woodcut. Signed and inscribed "Handdruck". One of 17 known copies from the first printing stater. On blotting paper. 50 x 39.5 cm. Sheet: 57,5 x 44 cm. [CH]. - Impressive format. - During Kirchner's very first stay on the Stafelalp in 1917, he created 13 woodcuts, which rank among the highlights of Kirchner's oeuvre. - One of the best-known print portraits from the Davos period. - Based on a photograph Kirchner took of the Davos farmer Martin Schmid (Roland Scotti, E. L. Kirchner. Das fotografische Werk, Davos 2005, cat. no. 66). - As the artist did not yet have a printing press at his disposal in Davos, he made the print from the wooden blocks by hand using a roller and bone folder, so that each copy varies slightly in the application of the ink and in its character. - Eight copies of this woodcut are museum-owned: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Art Institute of Chicago, Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge/Mass., Kirchner Museum, Davos, Kunstmuseum Bern, Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatl. Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, and the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. LITERATURE: Gustav Schiefler, Die Graphik Ernst Ludwig Kirchners, vol. 2 (1917-1927), Berlin-Charlottenburg 1931, no. H 277. Annemarie and Wolf-Dieter Dube, E. L. Kirchner. Das graphische Werk, Munich 1967, no. H 308 I (of II). Günther Gercken, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kritisches Werkverzeichnis der Druckgraphik, vol. 4 (1917-1919), Bern 2015, no. 859 I (of II, illu.). - - Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, 698th auction, Moderne Kunst, December 4, 1993, lot 250 (illu., plate 104). Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 267, SHG no. 389 (illu., p. 266). Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 345, SHG no. 776 (illu.).
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001). Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017). Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022). Expressiv! Die Künstler der Brücke. Die Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Albertina Vienna, June 1 - August 26, 2007, p. 272, cat. no. 174 (full-page illu., p. 273)
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032)
During his first stay on the Stafelalp in 1917, Kirchner made a woodcut of the alpine farmer Martin Schmid, a striking document of Kirchner's portrait art with the fascinating Tinzenhorn in the background. And Kirchner not only photographed him, but also his wife, Anna, with their two sons Martin and Hermann, presumably in the summer of 1917. Traces of snow between the beams allow the photo to be dated to the winter of 1918/19. Kirchner returned to Davos in July 1918 after his stay at the sanatorium in Kreuzlingen and lived in the hut that Martin Schmid let him use on the Stafelalp. In September 1920, Kirchner moved into the winter-proof farmhouse "In den Lärchen", which belonged to the Müller family. Hence, each residence is associated with a large number of works, and the variety of media used is also astonishing: in addition to oil paintings, he created woodcuts, etchings, watercolors, drawings, wooden sculptures and carpets. Despite his mental distress and partial paralysis, the first Davos period was extremely fruitful. Kirchner refined his Davos style and increasingly distanced himself from the original "Brücke" style of the Dresden and Berlin periods. [MvL]
In good condition consistent with its age. The sheet is firmly attached to the backing board in the upper corners. The corners of the sheet slightly creased. The upper right corner of the sheet expertly repaired, with a small tear in the seam. The upper left corner of the sheet somewhat thinned on the reverse. Image with very few creases, probably from the making. [EH]
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 
