Acrobat on a Horse (Voltigeuse zu Pferd)
Medium
drypoint on blotting paper
Dimensions
plate: 19.9 x 25.5 cm (7 13/16 x 10 1/16 in.) sheet: 42 x 39.2 cm (16 9/16 x 15 7/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ruth and Jacob Kainen Collection
Accession Number
1987.47.1
Art Historical Context
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's *Acrobat on a HorseVoltigeuse zu Pfer)*, created in 1913, the vibrant energy of the circus world—a recurring motif in the artist's work during his Berlin period. As a founding member of the Expressionist group Die Brücke, Kirchner channeled raw emotion and distorted forms to convey the alienation and dynamism of modern urban life. This drypoint print depicts a female acrobat in mid-leap atop a rearing horse, embodying the spectacle and precarious grace of performance amid early 20th-century Europe's cultural upheavals. The medium of drypoint on blotting paper is partic...
About the Artist
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1880–1938
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born on May 6, 1880, in Aschaffenburg, Germany, to parents Ernst and Maria Kirchner, part of a family of Prussian descent that frequently relocated due to his father's career as a chemical technician. After early schooling in various towns, he studied architecture at the Königliche Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in Dresden from 1901 to 1905, taking courses i...