Two Figures by the Sea
1920
Medium
woodcut in black on wove paper
Dimensions
block: 17.9 x 13.5 cm (7 1/16 x 5 5/16 in.) sheet: 25 x 19 cm (9 13/16 x 7 1/2 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2006.57.13
Art Historical Context
Erich Heckel's *Two Figures by the Sea (1920) captures the raw emotional intensity characteristic of German Expressionism. As a founding member of the group Die Brücke, formed in Dresden in 1905, Heckel and his contemporaries rejected academic traditions in favor of bold, simplified forms and vivid distortions to convey inner turmoil. Created just after World War I, woodcut reflects the era's unease, with its stark silhouettes of two figures against a turbulent sea evoking isolation and primal connection to nature. Printed in black ink on wove paper, the work exemplifies the Expressionists' e...
About the Artist
Erich Heckel
Erich Heckel (1883–1970) was born in Döbeln, Saxony, the son of a railway engineer. He attended the Realgymnasium in Chemnitz and went on to study architecture in Dresden, where he encountered the fellow students who would become his closest artistic collaborators. In 1905, together with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Fritz Bleyl, Heckel co-founded Die Brücke — The Bridge — an E...