Porträt Alex (Alexander Gerbig). 1908.
Woodcut.
Dube H 125. Signed, dated and inscribed "Handdruck". On brownish firm wove paper. 49 : 34 cm (19,2 : 13,3 in). Sheet: 53,6 x 38,5 cm (21,1 x 15,2 in). Although Kirchner’s earliest woodcuts were still entirely under the sway of Jugendstil and its aftermath, the woodcuts Kirchner produced from 1907 already reveal a switch to a more powerful expressive style. The block was now worked more coarsely, black-and-white contrasts more strongly emphasised. What might look rough-hewn and craftsmanly is, however, a deliberately deployed stylistic device for deepening expressive qualities. In the present portrait, Kirchner has concentrated entirely on his sitter, whose facial features are, however, merely outlined, which makes them all the more memorably captured. With woodcuts like this one, Kirchner significantly enhanced the status of the portrait in Expressionist printmaking. His consummate mastery of technique enabled Kirchner to concentrate entirely on expressive qualities, which, in his vivid language of forms, already contains everything that is positive about German Expressionism. [KD]
EXPERTISE: We are grateful to Dr. Günther Gercken, Lütjensee, for his help in cataloguing this lot
PROVENIENZ: Private collection South Germany.

Very rare
In good condition. With minimal light mount staining and negligibly rubbed margins. With barely noticeable squeeze marks in places.