The Finger Game
Medium
woodcut in black ink
Dimensions
image: 15 x 9 cm (5 7/8 x 3 9/16 in.) sheet: 19 x 18 cm (7 1/2 x 7 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2012.92.674
Art Historical Context
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's *The Finger Game* (5) is a striking woodcut print in black ink, capturing the raw energy of early German Expressionism. Created when Kirchner was just 25, this diminutive work—measuring a mere 15 x 9 cm—exemplifies his bold experimentation with printmaking. As a founding member of Die Brücke (The Bridge), a revolutionary group formed that same year in Dresden, Kirchner rejected academic traditions in favor of primal, emotionally charged art inspired by non-Western and folk sources. The woodcut medium, a relief printing technique involving carving into wood blocks, allo...
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...