Kühe. 1920/21.
Pencil drawing.
On creme paper. 17 x 14 cm (6.6 x 5.5 in), the full sheet. [CH].

• Full sheet, close-up view of the motif.
• After Kirchner had moved to the Davos mountains, the life of the farmers became an important source of inspiration for the artist's work.
• An expression of Kirchner's great talent as a draughtsman.
• On extended walks in the immediate vicinity of Davos, Kirchner was able to observe cows at close range and capture them in photographs, drawings, prints, a sculpture carved by his own hand from Swiss stone pine and paintings.
• The paintings "Absteigende Kühe" (1920, Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin), "Die weiße Kuh" (1920, Hamburger Kunsthalle), "Kühe bei Sonnenuntergang" (1918/19, Albertina Wien), "Kühe im Walde" (1919, Pinakothek der Moderne, München) were also made around the same time.

We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerd Presler for his kind expert advice.

PROVENANCE: Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 272, SHG no. 397 (illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 351, SHG no. 785 (illu.).

In 1920, Eberhard Grisebach wrote in the catalog for the the exhibition "Ausstellung von graphischen Arbeiten von E. L. Kirchner“ at Galerie Ludwig Schames: "Kirchner's drawings accompany his entire oeuvre. They are like visual notes [..]. This is where one must begin to understand Kirchner [..]."
This is exemplified by the present sheet: the szbtly structured composition of two cows was probably created on the Stafelalp above Frauenkirch near Davos. Kirchner's style, characterized solely by the line, the immediacy of his experience and the determination with which he liberated himself from all academic traditions, testify to the strength he had regained after the war. It also shows in the Swiss stone pine sculpture "Kuh", which the artist integrated into his painting "Estrichecke, Atelierecke" (Gordon 625) in 1920 in the Lärchenhaus with a view of the Tinzenhorn.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerd Presler

In good condition. With slight, professionally smoothed creases and isolated faint traces of rubbing. In the area of the front cow's head with light brown stains.