Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte: Schlemihls Begegnung mit dem Schatten (Peter Schlemihl's Wondrous Story: Schlemihl's Encounter with His Shadow)

1915

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Associated Names
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Artist, German, 1880 - 1938

The image contains bold shapes and sweeping lines that converge towards the center. The abstract composition features colors such as deep reds, blues, and greens against earthy tones. The shapes in the image appear to be figures in motion. The background contains linear and angular forms.

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: 31 x 29.3 cm (12 3/16 x 11 9/16 in.)
    overall: 42.7 x 37 cm (16 13/16 x 14 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1999.68.7

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Dube 1967, Vol. (W), no. 268, State ii.2/ii

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. 154.

2007

  • Van Gogh and Expressionism, Neue Gallerie, New York, 2007 (exh. cat. by Jill Lloyd et al.), pl. 67.

2019

  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Neue Galerie New York, 2019 - 2020, no. 46.

  • 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: 30-31.

2003

  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880-1938. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2003: 12, 25, no. 154.

2016

  • National Gallery of Art. Highlights from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, 2016: 280, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left below image in graphite: Eigendruck; lower right below image in graphite: E L Kirchner; lower center in graphite: 6. Das Männlein narrt ihn, indem es den Schatten allein bei ihm vorbeispazieren lässt, Schlemihl versucht ihn zu fassen. Vergeblich.

Wikidata ID

Q75424082

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