Woodcuts by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

These woodcuts are by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, another founding member of Die Brücke. He committed suicide. I like these prints very much, although the figures he creates are generally more simplified than I would try to create myself.

I have always appreciated anatomical accuracy, and aim for a more realistic figure. I think the lesson for me to learn from these prints is about composition, and how one constructs the underlying shapes in an image for a woodcut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do not own the rights to these images, they are from Wikimedia Commons.

Erich Heckel and Die Brücke (German Expressionist Printmaking)

I have been examining an art movement known as Die Brücke (The Bridge). I love the style of printmaking the movements is associated with. I also love the philosophical side of this art; Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings are an influence to the group. Nietzsche, and other existential philosophers, are a huge influence on my art, and my creative writing, so I am thoroughly intrigued.

Today, I focus on  Erich Heckel. I just love his prints. Look at this coloured woodcut of camp sailors. This image seems important for LGBT history as well as Art History. Heckel had a wife, I might add; as did lots of gay men in the 20th century.

I like Heckel’s themes. He has done quite a few beach bathing nudes, a subject I return to time and again in my drawings. I feel like I could learn lessons about simplification from these prints.

All images are from Spaightwood Galleries website, and belong to them.