Drei Frauenakte. Um 1915.
Pen and India ink over pencil.
With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the handwritten number “F Be / Bg 20” on the reverse. On creme wove paper. 49.5 x 36.8 cm (19.4 x 14.4 in), the full sheet.
With a pencil sketch of a reclining female figure with a seated male figure next to her on the reverse. The nude's headdress is reminiscent of a photo of an illustrious scene with Werner Gothein, Erna Schilling, Gerda Schilling (?) and Hugo Biallowons in Kirchner's studio at Körnerstraße 45 in Berlin (see Roland Scotti, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Das fotografische Werk, Berlin 2005, cat. no. 71). [CH].

• From the sought-after Berlin period of creation.
• The “Brücke” artists describe the representation of the human being, and in particular the nude, as “the essence of all visual art”.
• With dynamic lines, the artist conveys the immediacy of this studio scene.
• With a vibrant pencil sketch of a reclining female figure wearing a hat and a seated male figure on the reverse.
• The following year, he painted the very similar “Der Tanz zwischen den Frauen” (Dance between Women) (1915, Pinakothek der Moderne, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich).
• At this time, he also created his most celebrated paintings, the Berlin “Street Scenes” (1913-1915), in which Kirchner reflects the hustle and bustle of the modern city with a similar density of figures.

PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate (Davos 1938, Kunstmuseum Basel 1946).
Stuttgarter Kunstkabinetzt Roman Norbert Ketterer, Stuttgart (1954).
Galerie Meta Nierendorf, Berlin.(1966).
Berman Collection, Allentown (presumably acquired in 1986, Christie's, London)
Gagosian Gallery, New York (with the gallery label on the back of the frame).
From a Swiss collection.

EXHIBITION: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Aquarelle, Pastelle, Handzeichnungen, Galerie Meta Nierendorf, Berlin, 1961/62, p. 30, cat. no. 151.
Fixsterne. 100 Jahre Kunst auf Papier. Adolph Menzel bis Kiki Smith, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen, Schloss Gottorf, May 31 - September 20, 2009, p. 37 (with full-page ill., with the exhibition label on the back of the frame).
Painting Still Alive. On the Way to Modernity, Center for Contemporary Art, Torun (Poland), November 11, 2018 - January 13, 2019, p. 132 (with full-page ill.).

LITERATURE: Christie's, London, Impressionist and Modern Watercolors and Drawings. Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, December 2, 1986, lot 250 (illu.).