Des Künstlers Schwiegermutter (The Artist's Mother-in-Law)
1920
Medium
drypoint in black on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 13.7 x 1.1 cm (5 3/8 x 7/16 in.) sheet: 25.2 x 19.5 cm (9 15/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Marcy Family in memory of Sigbert H. Marcy
Accession Number
1991.243.20
Art Historical Context
Lovis Corinth, a leading figure in German Expressionism, *Des Künstlers Schwermutter (The Artist Mother-in-Law)* in 1920, late in his prolific career. This intimate dry print captures a personal subject—Corinth's own mother-in-law—rendered in black ink on laid paper. The remarkably narrow plate (13.7 x 1.1 cm) suggests a focused, almost jewel-like portrait, emphasizing emotional depth over grandeur, with the larger sheet (25.2 x 19.5 cm) providing a subtle frame for contemplation. Drypoint, Corinth's favored intaglio technique, involves scratching directly into a metal plate with a sharp need...
About the Artist
Lovis Corinth · 1858–1925
Lovis Corinth, born Franz Heinrich Louis on July 21, 1858, in Tapiau, East Prussia (now Gvardeysk, Russia), to a tanner father, displayed prodigious drawing talent from childhood. He began formal training at the Königsberg Academy in 1876, then moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1880 to 1884, studying under Ludwig von Löfftz and briefly Franz von Defregger, where he absorbed a Realis...