Mädchen mit hohem Hut (Siddi). 1913.
Drypoint with platetone.
Dube R 114. Ebner/Gabelmann 620 R. Signed, dated and inscribed "Kaltnadel". Monogrammed and dated in the plate. One of to date 25 known copies. On firm wove paper. 25 x 20 cm (9.8 x 7.8 in). Size of sheet: 45 x 35,9 cm (17,7 x 14,2 in).
[JS].
• From the best creative period and the year the "Brücke" was disbanded.
• Exotic portrait of Heckel's lover and later wife, the dancer Siddi Riha, with whom Heckel lived under poor conditions from 1911 in Otto Mueller's former Berlin attic studio.
• Heckel has rendered the delicate face with the oversized eyes in fascinatingly clear and expressive lines that document Heckel's enthusiasm for African sculpture.
• Heckel also stages Siddi with the attributes of the "New Woman": with androgynous bangs and the small, trendy pot hat.
• The exotic African bark fabric in the background is one of the Maasai and Watussi handicraft objects that Heckel's brother Manfred sent from East Africa and that serve as a source of inspiration in the Berlin studio.

PROVENANCE: Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (acquired in 1987: Lempertz, May 30, 1987, with the collector's stamp on the reverse, 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)
Erich Heckel. Einfühlung und Ausdruck, Buchheim Museum, Bernried, October 31, 2020 – March 7, 2021, p. 220 (with illu).

LITERATURE: Kunsthaus Lempertz Cologne, auction 619, Kunst des XX. Jahrhunderts, May 30, 1987, lot 376.
Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 200-201, SHG no. 205 (with illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 195, SHG no. 437 (with illu.).
"Yesterday we were with Heckel and his girlfriend, the dancer Sidi Riha, when we left we both felt like we had been with two children. The little dancer is sitting in a poor attic room in a light blue velvet dress with beautiful silver clips that Heckel made for her."

Franz Marc to Wassily Kandinsky, January 18/19, 1912, quoted from: Andreas Hüneke, Erich Heckel, vol. I, p. 217.

"He [Heckel] welcomed us in an attic room furnished like a tent with colored fabrics. On the walls were sculptures carved from wood, women and men with large heads and some with strong expressions in gesture and movement."

Eberhard Grisebach, Director of the Jena Art Association, letter dated January 8, 1914, quoted from: Andreas Hüneke, Erich Heckel, Vol. II, p. 459.

In fine impression. Margin evenly discolored and with isolated stains. Corners with small paper loss, upper edge with rebacked paper blemishes. Right edge with a closed split (ca. 2.5 cm), there discolored. Image in fine condition.