Self-Portrait in the Studio (Selbstbildnis im Atelier)
Medium
black crayon on board
Dimensions
sheet: 49.8 × 33.9 cm (19 5/8 × 13 3/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2012.92.751
Art Historical Context
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a pioneering figure in German Expressionism and co-founder of the Die Br group, created *Self-Portrait in the Studio* in 1923. This intimate captures the artist in his creative sanctuary during a turbulent period. By the early 1920s, Kirchner had to Davos, Switzerland, seeking respite from the psychological scars of World War I and personal struggles. His self-portraits from this era often reveal a raw introspection, blending vulnerability with defiant creativity amid the Weimar Republic's cultural ferment. Rendered in bold black crayon on board (49.8 × 33.9 cm), the wo...
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...