Horsewoman

Horsewoman
	Ernst Ludwig Kirchner , 1931/1932
	Oil on canvas
	200 × 150 cm
	Kirchner Museum Davos , Davos

Equestrian is the title of a painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner from 1931/1932. Alongside the painting Color Dance from 1932/1934, it is described as one of the two main works from Kirchner's linear-abstract phase of the early 1930s. As a special feature, it shows a motif that is shown simultaneously from different angles. Today the picture belongs to the inventory of the Kirchner Museum Davos .

description

The painting has the dimensions 200 × 150 cm in portrait format, it is executed using the painting technique oil on canvas , and the signature EL Kirchner is in the middle right below the horse's tail. The name Reiterin 31 is on the back .

Kirchner met the rider Rosita Schneider from Davos several times during her rides. In 1931 he took a photo of her and later painted it against the background of a snow-covered winter mountain landscape. The rider and horse are depicted in the painting in a monumental size in bright sunlight that completely fills the format of the canvas. The horse's head and the rider's torso dominate the upper left corner of the picture; the horse's body is the center, and the legs are oriented along the vertical central axis. All elements of the picture are executed in a flat, abstract painting style that emphasizes the contours , showing both horse and rider from different angles. The profile, the frontal front and back views of the bodies are superimposed and, according to Kirchner's description of the picture on the occasion of the exhibition in Bern in 1933, “... connected to a uniform form”. The faces are painted en face and at the same time as a profile. The restlessness of the stopped horse is indicated by the suggestion of a slightly prancing movement of the hind legs, the pricked ears and a raised tail . An important element of Kirchner's painting at that time were the so-called “air shadows”, which change the proportions of the figurative representation. The silhouette of the profiles looks like a silhouette. The horse's legs are so elongated that the rider sits in the saddle at a great height and almost blows the picture format. Kirchner's idea of a mature and monumental painting is achieved in this painting with its well thought-out surface construction and its format.

drafts

Photo by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner from 1931 showing the rider Rosita Schneider from Davos (glass plate negative 18 × 24 cm)

In addition to the photo of the real rider, there are also drafts for the painting. In addition to several sketches (today in the Kirchner Museum Davos), Kirchner also produced a pen and water drawing (Japanese paper, 52.2 × 38 cm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart ) that does not yet show the final proportions. There is also a woodcut on the motif of the rider from 1932 (85 × 55 cm, Brücke-Museum Berlin ).

reception

The art historian Lucius Grisebach writes about the picture: “From a purely decorative point of view, this picture is extremely powerful. The two-dimensional construction is perfect. However, a certain preponderance of formal effort cannot be overlooked. "

Exhibitions

1932 autumn exhibition , Prussian Academy of the Arts , Berlin
1933 Kunsthalle Bern
1955 documenta 1 , Kassel
1960 Art Association for the Rhineland and Westphalia , Düsseldorf
1979/1980 Neue Nationalgalerie , Berlin; House of Art , Munich; Museum Ludwig in the then Kunsthalle Cologne and in the Kunsthaus Zürich

literature

Hyun Ae Lee: "But I'm going to set up a new Kirchner again": Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Davos late work (= international university publications. Volume 513). Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8309-7056-9 , p. 107 ff. ( Books.google.de limited preview).

Web links

Commons : Painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Kirchner Museum Davos

Individual evidence

↑ Hyun Ae Lee: But I am going to set up a new Kirchner again: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Davos late work. With a detailed time table for the Swiss years 1917 to 1938 . Waxmann Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8309-7056-9 , p. 139.
↑ Lucius Grisebach, Annette Meyer zu Eissen and Ulrich Luckhardt in the National Gallery Berlin (ed.): Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Catalog for the exhibition in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-7913-0488-7 , p. 300.
↑ Annemarie Dube, Wolf-Dieter Dube: EL Kirchner. The graphic work (= Munich research on art history . Volume 2 : illustrations ). Prestel, Munich 1967, OCLC 643101703 , p. 89 , no. 629 .
↑ Lucius Grisebach, Annette Meyer zu Eissen and Ulrich Luckhardt in the National Gallery Berlin (ed.): Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Catalog for the exhibition in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Zurich 1979. ISBN 3-7913-0488-7 , p. 32.

[Lee2008-1] Hyun Ae Lee: But I am going to set up a new Kirchner again: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Davos late work. With a detailed time table for the Swiss years 1917 to 1938 . Waxmann Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8309-7056-9 , p. 139.

[2] Lucius Grisebach, Annette Meyer zu Eissen and Ulrich Luckhardt in the National Gallery Berlin (ed.): Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Catalog for the exhibition in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-7913-0488-7 , p. 300.

[3] Annemarie Dube, Wolf-Dieter Dube: EL Kirchner. The graphic work (= Munich research on art history . Volume 2 : illustrations ). Prestel, Munich 1967, OCLC 643101703 , p. 89 , no. 629 .

[4] Lucius Grisebach, Annette Meyer zu Eissen and Ulrich Luckhardt in the National Gallery Berlin (ed.): Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Catalog for the exhibition in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Zurich 1979. ISBN 3-7913-0488-7 , p. 32.