Crouching Girl (Fränzi) Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

• An expressive, colourful depiction from Kirchner’s significant Dresden creative period around 1910 • Fränzi was one of the key models for the ‘Brücke’ artists’ group and embodies their new, uninhibited view of humanity • A particularly lively composition with dynamic lines, luminous areas of colour and powerful contrasts Around 1910, numerous portraits of the young Fränzi were created in Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Dresden studio; she was one of the most important models of the ‘Brücke’ artists’ group. With her natural, unpretentious demeanour, Lina Franziska Fehrmann embodies a new vision of humanity that deliberately breaks away from traditional academic conventions of representation. Her youthful spontaneity and her spontaneous movements offered Kirchner a wealth of opportunities to capture the human figure in its immediate vitality. In this work, Kirchner depicts the girl in a crouching posture, completely absorbed in her own thoughts. Her bowed head, bent legs and arms stretched wide define the rhythmic structure of the composition. With just a few powerful lines, the artist outlines the figure, whilst luminous, spontaneously applied areas of colour in green, yellow, red and dark violet structure the pictorial space. The figure and background interlock directly, merging to form a dynamic, tension-filled composition. The interplay between the dark contours and the luminous colours—some of which are applied unmixed—is particularly captivating. The work impressively illustrates Kirchner’s search for an immediate visual language, free from academic conventions. The spontaneous line work, the expressive use of colour and the focus on essential forms make this drawing a characteristic example of his artistically pioneering years in Dresden. | 1880 Aschaffenburg - Frauenkirch/Davos 1938 | Moderne Kunst | Arbeiten auf Papier | Nummer: 26x2348 | Provenance: Nachlass des Künstlers, verso mit dem Basler Stempel (Lugt 1570b) und der handschriftlichen Registriernummer "A Dre/Bf 21" sowie den Vermerken "K 3661 " und "3285"; Sammlung Olbricht, Deutschland.

Estimate:£54,270.25

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