Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte: Begegnung Schlemihls mit dem grauen Männlein auf der Landstrasse (Peter Schlemihl's Wondrous Story: Schlemihl Encounters the Little Gray Man on the Road)

1915

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Associated Names
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Artist, German, 1880 - 1938

The image consists of bold, angular lines and geometric shapes. The central figure is depicted as a person in a blue uniform on a white horse. To the right, two figures in formal attire wearing top hats are featured. The backdrop is a mixture of dark green and black, adding depth to the scene. The composition suggests movement and energy.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color woodcut on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    New Century Fund and Gift of Ruth and Jacob Kainen

  • Dimensions

    block: 29.9 x 29.7 cm (11 3/4 x 11 11/16 in.)
    overall: 41.3 x 35.4 cm (16 1/4 x 13 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1999.68.6

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Dube 1967, Vol. (W), no. 267, State b.2.ii/ii

  • Series Title

    Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte: pl. 5 [Dube 262-268; Schiefler 264-270]

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dr. Frédéric Bauer, Davos, acquired from the artist; private collection, Germany, after 1954; (Wolfgang Wittrock, Düsseldorf); purchased 1999 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2000

  • Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000-2001.

2003

  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880-1938, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2003, no. 153.

2007

  • Van Gogh and Expressionism, Neue Gallerie, New York, 2007 (exh. cat. by Jill Lloyd et al.), pl. 66.

2019

  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Neue Galerie New York, 2019 - 2020, no. 45.

  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (Neue), Neue Galerie New York, New York, 2019 - 2020, unnumbered catalogue.

Bibliography

1967

  • Dube, Annemarie and Wolf-Dieter Dube. E.L. Kirchner; das graphische Werke. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1967.

1980

  • Gercken, Günther. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Holzschnittzyklen: Peter Schlemihl, Triumph der Liebe, Absalom. Stuttgart, 1980: 28-29.

2003

  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880-1938. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2003: 12, 25, no. 153.

2009

  • Heller, Reinhold (ed.). Brücke: The Birth of Expressionism in Dresden and Berlin, 1905 - 1913. New York, 2009: p. 110 and fig 5.

Inscriptions

lower left below image in graphite: Eigendruck; lower right below image in graphite: E L Kirchner; by later hand, lower left in graphite: Schiefler 267 / 1916; lower center in graphite: 5. Schlemihl versucht mit dem Schatten zu fliehen, dieser rutscht aber von selbst wieder in die Tasche des Männleins

Wikidata ID

Q75424079

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