One of the most important artists of German Expressionism, Kirchner was a founding member of Die Brucke in 1905 (along with Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Fritz Bleyl; they were soon joined by Emile Nolde and Max Pechstein) and its dominant member for the next five or six years until his criticisms of his fellows alienated him from them and the group dissolved in 1913. In 1910 he settled in Berlin and began a series of paintings based upon the streets of Berlin combining cityscapes and figures. He was drafted in 1915 but suffered a nervous breakdown and was released in 1916. After being hit by a car in Berlin, he underwent a long period of recovery, leaving Berlin and settling in Switzerland. Although there were many retrospectives of his work in Germany during the 1930s, he suffered a crisis after the Nazis included his works in the 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition. He shot himself the following year. In The Oxford Dictionary of 20th-Century Art, Ian Chilvers ranks Kirchner as "one of the 20th century's greatest masters" of printmaking, and says that his mature works are distinguished by "a harsh contrast of planes and abrupt angularity influenced by his admiration for medieval German woodcuts" (p. 318). The last 40 years have seen a tremendous critical interest in Kirchner's prints and paintings; his works are to be found in every important museum in Europe and America.

Select Bibliography:
Annemarie Dube-Heynig, Kirchner: His Graphic Art (Greenwich CT: New York Graphic Society, n.d. [1961]); Lucius Grisebach, Annette Meyer zu Eissen, Ulrich Luckhardt, E. L. Kirchner 1880-1938;Ausst.Katalog Nationalgalerie Berlin 1979 (Berlin: Nationalgalerie Berlin, 1979); Donald E. Gordon, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: A Retrospective Exhibition (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1968); Lucius Grisebach, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1880-1938 (Cologne: Taschen, 1999); Roman Norbert Ketterer and Claus Zoege von Manteuffel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Drawings and Pastels (NY: Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1982); Kirchner Museum, Davos & Museum Folkwang, Essen, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Das Innere Bild. "Farben sind die Freude des Lebens." Exhibition: 1999-2000 (Cologne: Dumont, 1999); Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik. Ausstellung zum 100. Geburtstag am 6.Mai-29.J uni 1980 (Bremen: Graphisches Kabinett, Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner KG, 1980); Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in der Graphischen Sammlung der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (Stuttgart: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1980); Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Zeichnungen 1906-1925 (Kassel: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel, 1967); Christian Lenz, E. L. Kirchner. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und ausgewählte Druckgraphik (Frankfurt: Städelsches Kunstinstitut, 1974); Magdalena Moeller, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Meisterwerke der Druckgraphik (Berlin: Brucke Museum, 1990); W. R.Valentiner, E. L. Kirchner, German Expressionist (Raleigh: The North Carolina Museum of Art, 1958).

Among the vines (Dube 811, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 66x71mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Teamster (Dube 815 ii, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 54x78mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Dead Man (Dube 818, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 34x78mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Architect of Holidays (Dube 819 ii, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 36x78mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

At the Death-Bed ((Dube 824, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 85x75mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Apostle of Peace (Dube 828, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 63x77mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The orator ((Dube 829, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 99x79mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Riot (Dube 830, Davis-Rifkind 1478). Original woodcut for Neben der Heerstrasse / Near the Military Road (Zurich and Leipzig: Verlag von Grethlein & Co, 1923). Image size: 49x78mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

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