Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Taunustannen - image-1

Lot 316 Dα

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Taunustannen

Auction 1099 - overview Cologne
01.12.2017, 18:00 - Modern Art
Estimate: 20.000 € - 30.000 €

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Taunustannen
1916

Woodcut on chamois-coloured, slightly grained wove paper 44.5/47.5 x 33.5 cm (59.1 x 38.3/38.7 cm) Framed under glass. Unsigned. Proof aside from the four proofs of stage 3 documented by Gercken. - Mat opening minimally browned.

In early June of 1916 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner journeyed from Berlin to the sanatorium in Königstein. It was the third time that he went to receive treatment from Dr Oskar Kohnstamm, a general practitioner, neurologist and psychiatrist. The approximately four weeks Kirchner spent there seeking medical assistance would once again have a soothing effect; in addition to numerous graphic works and paintings, he succeeded in working intensively and painting the walls of the sanatorium's staircase with scenes of bathers - “al fresco”, directly on the wall. And Kirchner was very actively engaged in his correspondence with patrons and benefactors like Gustav Schiefler, the editor of the catalogue raisonné of his graphic works (volume 1), as well as Carl Hagemann, Botho Graef and others: here he was always interested in placing not just his art but also his personality in the focus. Kirchner thus provided Schiefler with the latest sheets he had created in Königstein, such as "Bahnhof Königstein", "Alte Gasse in Königstein" and different versions of "Taunustannen", which he was able to discover during his “mandatory” walks around the sanatorium. He created lithographs, etchings and large-format woodcuts, like this "Taunustannen" printed in a dense black.
With “Sammlung C G Heise” (collection of C.G. Heise) the provenance of this powerful landscape is persuasive and is significant for Kirchner. Back in Berlin, Kirchner wrote to Schiefler on 12 August 1916 and asked about the “young C.G. Heise”, who wished to put out a journal. For Kirchner every new periodical was of interest as a place where he might be able to publish his works and later also texts written under his pseudonym Louis de Marsalle. The young art historian Carl Georg Heise began his career as a museum professional at that time, as assistant at the Hamburger Kunsthalle under Gustav Pauli; in 1919, before he took over as director of the St Annen-Museum in Lübeck, he edited Genius: Zeitschrift für werdende und alte Kunst. And of course Kirchner intensely cultivated this promising contact and was able to stir Heise's enthusiasm for him and his art.

Catalogue Raisonné

Gercken 790 III (vol. 3); Dube H 298 (vol. 2); Schiefler H 249

Provenance

Collection Carl Georg Heise, Hamburg; in family possession since