Kirchner, Street, Berlin, 1913 Flashcards
year
1913
when did kirchner create the die brucke group and when was its manifesto
1905 creates Die Brücke group (Kirchner is the unofficial leader) with fellow architecture students; they all committed to painting, drawing and print-making from then on
1906 writes the Manifesto for Die Brücke (Die Brücke was an attempt to reform German culture according to a vital and modern aesthetic, by rejecting state-sponsored art schools and traditional training)
when did kirchner see matisses paintings and what was he influenced by
1908 sees Matisse’s paintings in Berlin (is influenced by Fauve use of colour);
when did kircher see van goghs works and what was he influenced by
1908 sees van Gogh’s work in Vienna (influenced by his brushwork and emotional response to subject matter);
when did kirchner visit the ethnographic museum
1908 visits ethnographic museum in Dresden, develops a small personal collection of primitive artefacts
when did kirchner move to berlin
1911
when did die brucke group end
1913
what happened to kirchners work in 1937
1937 Nazis claim his work is degenerate, all paintings on display in public galleries (639 in total) are confiscated and Kirchner commits suicide a year later
what was kirchners emotions at the time of this painting
Kirchner created this painting in a period of loneliness and insecurity shortly after the Die Brücke group disbanded in 1913.
who are the figures and what is the significance of their job to kirchner
It shows two prostitutes strolling the streets, surrounded by furtively glancing men.
For Kirchner, the prostitute was a symbol of the modern city, where glamour/ danger and intimacy/ alienation necessarily coexisted, and everything was for sale.
interpretation of kirchners street scenes
Kirchner’s street scenes have been interpreted as both a portrayal of the alienation produced by an exchange economy where everything is reduced to the status of a commodity (including human sexual relations) OR as affirmative response to the dynamism of modern metropolitan life.
anticipates imminent danger of ww1
could be interpretated as anxiety inducing OR vibrant
subject
-contemporary life in berlin
Human figure is central to Kirchner’s art, especially the human figure in movement (capturing the vitality of human body)
Stark portrayal of prostitutes
Unsettling scene of urban leisure
Looks at the psychological effect of the modern city upon the figures within it
treatment of figures (pirimative influence)
*Simplified and direct treatment of form perhaps inspired by his interest in primitive art
*Faces of prostitutes angular; those of the men crudely hatched in (anonymity/ influence of tribal masks)
*Anti-naturalistic: distorted, elongated
eyes of figures
*Eyes remain empty / unseeing
colour
*Exaggerated colours: acidic pink / contrasting grey skin-tones
*Darker, colder colours on the men
*Distorts naturalistic colour for expressive effect
-Influence of Neo-Impressionist Seurat’s use of colour on Kirchner
*Undertook studies of 19th century colour theories
*Influence of Fauve colour on Kirchner (in 1908 he saw Matisse works in Berlin); uses vibrant palette that strays from natural observation
brushwork
*Crude, short, cross-hatched brushwork across figures (interest in woodcuts)
*He would make rapid sketches of street scenes and work up the painting in the studio after
*Larger more dynamic brush marks (related to the work of van Gogh seen by Kirchner in 1904 in Munich and 1908 in Vienna)
*Long feathered strokes
influence of fauvism
*Influence of Fauve colour on Kirchner (in 1908 he saw Matisse works in Berlin); uses vibrant palette that strays from natural observation
influence of Seurat
-Influence of Neo-Impressionist Seurat’s use of colour on Kirchner
use of line
*Exploits the potential of line
*Influence of woodcut - a form of printmaking with a long and distinguished history in German art
*Kirchner felt this medium was able to convey emotion authentically and it influences the way he paints
*Here his intricate and linear style creates complex surface patterns reminiscent of the v-shaped gauge used for woodcuts
influence of medieval/renaissance Germany
-use of woodblock
influence of Van Gogh
*1908 van Gogh exhibition was seen by Kirchner in Vienna (big influence)
*Van Gogh represented an artist who created a strong personal identification with the subjects he paints through colour, brushwork and emotional expression
influence of edvard munch
printmaker whose intensely evocative treatment of psychological themes greatly influenced German Expressionists like Kirchner in the early 20th century
*1906 exhibition of Munch works in Berlin
influence of art nouveau
*An international style of art that was most popular between 1890 and 1910.
*A reaction to the academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants, but also in curved lines.
