Two Nudes

Ernst Ludwig KirchnerWW-1905-056757

1905·Colored chalk on cream wove paper·64.5 × 90 cm (25 7/16 × 35 7/16 in.)

<p>The year 1905 was a crucial moment in Kirchner's artistic development. In July he received a degree in architecture from the Technisches Hochschule in Dresden; he discovered and was greatly influenced by the African sculpture in the Dresden ethnology museum; and, with fellow students Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, he fotmded the group <em>Die Brücke</em> (the Bridge), which was active in Dresden and Berlin from 1905 to 1912. The artists of the Bridge, inspired by Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse, were instrumental in promoting the growth of modern Expressionism.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1905
Medium: Colored chalk on cream wove paper
Dimensions: 64.5 × 90 cm (25 7/16 × 35 7/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Artist

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Painting

Painter and graphic artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born in 1880 in Aschaffenberg, Germany. He studied architecture at the Dresden Technische Hochschule (Technical High School), but during his time there decided to devote himself to fine art rather than architecture. By 1905, Kirchner, along with fellow artist friends Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, founded Die Brücke (“The Bridge”), an artistic group that sought to “bridge” traditional and classical modes of art making and the avant-garde. Beyond this group, Kirchner found inspiration in the number of post-impressionist exhibitions that were held in Dresden, where he was exposed to the work of such artists as Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch—both of whom he would cite as inspirational to the development of his own practice—as well as exhibitions on art from Africa and Oceania.

Dresden, Germany

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