Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
dal 25/7/2007 al 16/9/2007
Segnalato da
25/7/2007
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Neue Galerie - Museum for German and Austrian Art, New York
Berlin Street Scene. This recently restituted work from 1913-14 is now a part of the Neue Galerie collection. In addition, the exhibition features a recently acquired Kirchner sculpture from 1909-10, Standing Girl, Caryatid, as well as a selection of paintings and works on paper that survey Berlin during this period; they are by Kirchner, Otto Dix, George Grosz, and Christian Schad.
Berlin Street Scene
“Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Berlin Street Scene” focuses on one of the greatest German paintings of the twentieth century. This recently restituted work from 1913-14 is now a part of the Neue Galerie collection. In addition to Berlin Street Scene, the exhibition will feature a recently acquired Kirchner sculpture from 1909-10, Standing Girl, Caryatid, as well as a selection of paintings and works on paper that survey Berlin during this period; they are by Kirchner, Otto Dix, George Grosz, and Christian Schad.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a founding member of the artists’ group Die Brücke (The Bridge) in Dresden in 1905. In 1912, the group moved to Berlin. Kirchner was enthralled by what he called “the symphony of the great city,” and responded to the intensity of the street life he found in Berlin by recording the urban spectacle around him.
Shortly after arriving in the capital city, Kirchner met sisters Erna and Gerda Schilling, who were dancers at a Berlin nightclub. The two monumental figures in Berlin Street Scene are clearly modeled after them. They are shown as thoroughly modern women, dressed in fitted clothing and feathered hats, striding with confidence. Yet there is a dark undercurrent to the work: the central figures are portrayed as prostitutes parading on a busy avenue, and the slashing lines of the composition convey a taut emotional power. With its charged and anxious atmosphere, Berlin Street Scene suggests an uneasy dialogue between primitivism and modernity.
Also on view will be highlights from the permanent collection, including works by Austrian artists Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Alfred Kubin, and by German artists Erich Heckel, August Macke, Oskar Schlemmer, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Decorative arts will also be on display, including pieces by Austrian designers Marianne Brandt, Josef Hoffmann, and Adolf Loos, and by German designers Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe.
Neue Galerie
1048 Fifth Avenue - New York