Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Tanz Pen and ink, chalk and gouache on chamois-coloured paper. 50.5 x 37 cm. Framed under glass. Unsigned. Basler estate stamp (Lugt 1570b) verso lower left, therein handwritten inscription "F/Da/Bg/91". - The paper with minor browning and faint light-stain. Provenance Private collection, South Germany The dance is a repeatedly recurring theme in the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. As an artist he was interested in classical ballet, cabaret, ballroom dancing and the modern expressive dance of contemporaries like Nina Hard, Mary Wigman and Gret Palucca as well as ritual African or folk dances. Kirchner recorded his immediate impressions in his drawings and sketches. With just a few lines, he succeeds in inimitably capturing the energy of the depicted figures’ movements, the music and the rhythm. In our large-format work, Kirchner depicts the pair of dancers in almost symbol-like poses, but not without pictorially visualising the moment of their brief instant of movement.