plate 3 in Alfred Döblin: Das Stiftsfräulein und der Tod (Alfred Döblin: The Canoness and Death)
Medium
woodcut
Dimensions
overall: 23.5 x 18.2 x 17 cm (9 1/4 x 7 3/16 x 6 11/16 in.)
Classification
Volume
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2012.92.39.4
Art Historical Context
Step into the raw emotional world of German Expressionism with *Plate 3* from Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's illustrations for Alfred Döbl 1913 novella *Das Stiftsfräulein und der Tod* (The Canoness and Death). Kirchner, a founding member of the revolutionary Die Brücke group, this striking woodcut as part of limited-edition volume, capturing the story's themes of mortality and spiritual tension through bold, angular forms and high-contrast lines. Printed in 1913, just before World War I shattered Europe's cultural landscape, it reflects the era's restless energy and Kirchner's shift from Dresden's c...
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...