Pencil, black and color Chalks. With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the hand-written registration number "St. 90" on the reverse. On fine wove paper. 20.2 x 15 cm. , the full sheet. [CH]. - Berlin by night: a street scene in the dense and dynamic style of the Berlin years, in which Kirchner makes the hustle and bustle of the city at night almost tangible. - In 1911, the artist moved to Berlin and began to work with impressions gained on the streets. - The move brought completely new motifs into Kirchner's works, among them prostitutes and elegant pedestrians, streetcars and automobiles, shop windows and neon signs. - The famous "street scenes" are particularly rare on the international auction market. This work is documented in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/Bern. LITERATURE: Magdalena M. Moeller, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Die Straßenszenen 1913-1915, Munich 1993, p. 177, cat. no. 27 (full-page illu. in color).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin, 7.4.-8.9.2006, Kat.-Nr. 50 (m. Abb.)
Artist's estate (Davos 1938, Kunstmuseum Basel 1946, with the numbered estate stamp on the reverse). Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett Roman Norbert Ketterer, Stuttgart (1954). Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin. Wolfgang Wittrock art dealership, Berlin. Olbricht Collection, Essen/Berlin (acquired in 2007)
In this sheet, Kirchner sketched the hustle and bustle on a busy street in the evening, possibly Leipziger Strasse in Berlin-Mitte. The passers-by in the foreground stroll and hurry along the sidewalks, while an approaching streetcar with its bright lights makes its way through a street teeming with pedestrians, probably attracting attention with its typical bells. Kirchner used the brightly lit facades of the stores and the colorful neon signs to lend the chalk drawing the lightness and movement of this hustle and bustle with matching, strong color accents and to transform the street sequence in its grayish, gloomy dreariness into a colorful nightlife experience. [MvL/CH]
Dense composition with extremely dynamic strokes. The color slightly faded in the lower center. The lower right corner of the sheet with a small diagonal crease. On the reverse of the upper sheet margin with old mounting residue, minimally pressing through to recto. Isolated tiny traces from the making.
Lot Details
Pencil, black and color Chalks. With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the hand-written registration number "St. 90" on the reverse. On fine wove paper. 20.2 x 15 cm. , the full sheet. [CH]. - Berlin by night: a street scene in the dense and dynamic style of the Berlin years, in which Kirchner makes the hustle and bustle of the city at night almost tangible. - In 1911, the artist moved to Berlin and began to work with impressions gained on the streets. - The move brought completely new motifs into Kirchner's works, among them prostitutes and elegant pedestrians, streetcars and automobiles, shop windows and neon signs. - The famous "street scenes" are particularly rare on the international auction market. This work is documented in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/Bern. LITERATURE: Magdalena M. Moeller, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Die Straßenszenen 1913-1915, Munich 1993, p. 177, cat. no. 27 (full-page illu. in color).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin, 7.4.-8.9.2006, Kat.-Nr. 50 (m. Abb.)
Artist's estate (Davos 1938, Kunstmuseum Basel 1946, with the numbered estate stamp on the reverse). Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett Roman Norbert Ketterer, Stuttgart (1954). Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin. Wolfgang Wittrock art dealership, Berlin. Olbricht Collection, Essen/Berlin (acquired in 2007)
In this sheet, Kirchner sketched the hustle and bustle on a busy street in the evening, possibly Leipziger Strasse in Berlin-Mitte. The passers-by in the foreground stroll and hurry along the sidewalks, while an approaching streetcar with its bright lights makes its way through a street teeming with pedestrians, probably attracting attention with its typical bells. Kirchner used the brightly lit facades of the stores and the colorful neon signs to lend the chalk drawing the lightness and movement of this hustle and bustle with matching, strong color accents and to transform the street sequence in its grayish, gloomy dreariness into a colorful nightlife experience. [MvL/CH]
Dense composition with extremely dynamic strokes. The color slightly faded in the lower center. The lower right corner of the sheet with a small diagonal crease. On the reverse of the upper sheet margin with old mounting residue, minimally pressing through to recto. Isolated tiny traces from the making.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 
