Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Hauptallee im grossen Garten, Dresden. Verso: Mutter und Sohn (Probedruck)
1927
Woodcut on Japan paper, printed on both sides 42.2 x 24.4 cm resp. 42.2 x 28.8 cm (48.2/48.7 x 32.3/33.1 cm) Framed under glass from both sides. Titled "Hauptallee im Gr. Garten I" in blue chalk by the artist lower center verso, with faded estate stamp (Lugt 1570b) to the left, therein and under resp. the handwritten inscription "H 566 II" and "H 567 I" in black pen. On the recto lower right an unknown inscription in pencil. - Each sightly browned in mat opening, occasional foxing and studio traces.
Both woodcuts can be seen as reminiscences of Kirchner's journey to Germany in early 1926, when the artist visited his mother in Chemnitz and Will Grohmann in Dresden. The sheet offered here represents a rarity because prints that are printed on both sides are very infrequent in Kircher's oeuvre. Furthermore, according to Gercken this is currently the only known print of the third state of the “Hauptallee”. Gercken has stated that the Roman numeral "I" in the inscription presumably refers not to the “Hauptallee”, but to the woodcut “Mutter und Sohn” (Mother and Son). In terms of its motif, this trial proof on the reverse side is closely related to Kirchner's eponymous 1927 painting (Gordon 884).
Catalogue Raisonné
Dube H 571 III and 586
Certificate
The work is documented in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive Wichtrach/Bern.
We would like to thank Günther Gercken, Lütjensee, for the information.
Provenance
Artist's estate; Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, 32. Auktion, Nov. 1958, lot 444; family possession, Luxembourg