100 - ERICH HECKEL

ERICH HECKEL (1883 Döbeln – 1970 Radolfzell on Lake Constance) Before Bathing, 1912 Woodcut. 30 x 31 cm. Framed behind glass. Titled and labeled “Woodcut” in lead at the bottom left. Signed and dated (19)12 in lead at the bottom right. As a painter and graphic artist of Expressionism, Erich Heckel ranks among the most significant artists of classical modernism. In 1905, he founded the artists’ group Die Brücke in Dresden together with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Fritz Bleyl; Max Pechstein, Emil Nolde, and Otto Mueller later joined the group. Many of his works were later confiscated as “degenerate.” “Before Bathing” depicts a slender female figure set against a sparsely rendered riverside landscape featuring water, sand, and a densely hatched shrub. The body is twisted in an almost archaic manner: the legs stride sideways, while the upper body and gaze are turned toward the viewer—a posture that is vaguely reminiscent of Egyptian reliefs and detaches the figure from any naturalistic physicality. Hardly more than the outline of the body remains: Heckel almost completely dispenses with interior shading; the face is reduced to a few angular lines, and the torso is condensed into a single, closed black form.