Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2014 Realism to Surrealism: European art and culture 1848-1936

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the art of spectacle

Dr Jacqueline Strecker

13/14 August 2014

Lecture summary:

One of the great European modernists and a leading Expressionist, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was fascinated by the subject of theatre and performance. This lecture explores prints, drawings and paintings by Kirchner that depict public spectacle combining his dual interest in modernity and primitivism. He produced scenes of exotic cabaret and dance performances initially in Dresden and continued to depict the world of circus performers and dancers when he moved to Berlin in 1911. Kirchner’s interest in the art of spectacle culminated with the wonderful series of Berlin street scenes he created between 1913 and 1914 and which form the central focus of this lecture.

Slide list:

Reclining woman in a white chemise, 1909, oil on canvas, 95 x 121cm, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Dancer with a blue skirt, 1908-9, coloured crayon, 42.6 x 34.5cm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Nude dancers, 1909, woodcut, 35 x 57.3cm, private collection

Dancing couple, 1909, lithograph, 38.3 x 32.8cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Japanese theatre, 1909, oil on canvas, 113.7 x 113.7cm, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Tightrope walker, 1909, oil on canvas, 120 x 149cm, private collection

Hamburg dancers, 1910, etching, 40 x 39.9cm, Sprengel Museum, Hannover

Hamburg dancers, 1910, pen, brush and black ink, 44.8 x 35cm, Brücke Museum Berlin

Panama dancers, 1910, oil on canvas, 50 x 50cm, North Carolina Museum of Art

Panama girls, 1910, pen and ink, 37.5 x 51.8cm, Sammlung Buchheim

Negro dance, 1911, oil on canvas, 151.5 x 120cm, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf

Girl circus rider, 1912, oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

Nollendorf square, 1912, oil on canvas, 69 x 60cm, Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin

Two cocottes on the street, 1913, watercolour and gouache, 35 x 27cm, private collection

Proudly sponsored by

*Street scene in Berlin, 1913, oil on canvas, 121 x 95cm, Neue Galerie, New York

Street scene with an omnibus, 1914, pen and ink, 54.4 x 39.5cm, MoMA New York

The street, 1913, oil on canvas, 120.6 x 91.1cm, MoMA New York

Street scene with a coquette in red, 1914, coloured crayons, 41 x 30.3cm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Street scene with green cocotte, 1914, pastel, 47 x 29.8cm, Brücke Museum, Berlin

Street scene with two cocottes, 1914, pastel, 67.7 x 50.3cm, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

*Five women on the street, 1913, oil on canvas, 120 x 90cm, Museum Ludwig Cologne

Five women on the street, 1914, woodcut, 48.5 x 37cm, National Gallery of Art Washington

Street scene, at the window, 1914, woodcut, 29.2 x 18.2cm, Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

*Three bathers, 1913, oil on canvas, 197.5 x 147.5cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales

Two women on the street, 1914, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 91cm, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- Westfalen, Düsseldorf

Street scene, 1914, pastel, 40 x 30cm, Brücke Museum, Berlin

Friedrichstrasse, 1914, oil on canvas, 125 x 91 cm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Potsdamer Platz, 1914, colour woodcut, 52 x 37.5cm, private collection

*Potsdamer Platz, 1914, oil on canvas, 200 x 150cm, Nationalgalerie Berlin

Trapeze acrobats in blue, 1914, oil on canvas, 119 x 89cm, private collection

Dancing couple, 1914, oil on canvas, 91 x 65cm, Museum Folkwang Essen

Dancing couple, 1914, pastel, 68 x 52.8cm, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Circus rider, 1914, oil on canvas, 200.7 x 151cm, St Louis Art Museum

Self-portrait as a soldier, 1915, oil on canvas, 69.2 x 61cm, Allen Memorial Museum, Ohio

References:

Barron, Stephanie and Wolf-Dieter Dube, German Expressionism: art and society 1909-1923, exhib cat, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Sept 1997 - Jan 1998

Lloyd, Jill, “Costume and theatre in Kirchner’s Street scenes”, Mad Square symposium, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 6 Aug 2011

Lloyd, Jill and Magdalena Moeller, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: the Dresden and Berlin years, exhib cat, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 28 June – 21 Sept 2003

Lloyd, Jill, German Expressionism: primitivism and modernity, New Haven/London, 1991

Rhodes, Colin, Primitivism and modern art, London, 1994

Selz, Peter, German Expressionist Painting, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London, 1974

Strecker, Jacqueline, The Mad Square: modernity in German art 1910-37, exhib cat, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 6 Aug – 6 Nov 2011, National Gallery of Victoria, 25 Nov 2011 – 4 March 2012

Images:

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Street scene in Berlin, 1913, oil on canvas, 121 x 95cm, Neue Galerie, New York

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Five women on the street, 1913, oil on canvas, 120 x 90cm, Museum Ludwig Cologne

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Three bathers, 1913, oil on canvas, 197.5 x 147.5cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Potsdamer Platz, 1914, oil on canvas, 200 x 150cm, Nationalgalerie Berlin