Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

A very rare woodcut printed in a unique combination of colours: green, ochre, black, violet, rose, blue and dark brown, Dube only records four different colour variants, 1933, signed in pencil and inscribed Eigendruck, printed by the artist, on wove paper

E.L. Kirchner, Stafelalp, Switzerland
Dr. Jurgen & Mrs. Annemarie Ruesch, Switzerland
Mrs. Annemarie Ruesch, San Fransisco, thence by descent
Mr. Jeffrey Ruesch, New York, thence by descent
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Magdalena M. Moeller (ed.), Günther Gercken, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Farbige Druckgraphik, Brücke Museum, Berlin, 2008

Dr. E. W. Kornfeld, Christine E. Stauffer, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1880-1938. Biographical Data. BMP Translation Services, Basle, Switzerland  ©1992 by Kirchner Museum Davos

With margins, on wove paper backed onto another sheet of sturdy wove support, some skillful repairs and restorations, mainly with figure at left and cow in foreground, colours slightly attenuated, unframed.
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Kühe im Frühling was executed in 1933. It is printed in a unique combination of colours, using an astonishing seven different colours: green, ochre, black, violet, rose, blue and dark brown. It is a tour-de-force in colour printmaking, which Kirchner had, at this relatively late state in his life, perfected. Instead of employing the traditional method of using a different woodblock for each colour, Kirchner only used three blocks which he cut apart, then inked each individual piece and re-assembled them for the printing process.

The seemingly idyllic image of the human being and beast living in harmony has a tense undertone which is expressed in Kirchner’s juxtaposition of strong colours. It reflects his despair which was caused by the political turmoil in his native Germany with the coming to power of the National Socialist Party and its inherent threat to his art, combined with his deteriorating health and dependency on drugs and alcohol. Although Kirchner did not produce many paintings in this year, he focused on printmaking and produced some of his most outstanding colour woodcuts, including Portait of Dr Bauer (Dube W 633), Akte im Wald (D. W 637) and Kühe im Frühling (D.W 643), all of which are described by Dr. E.W. Kornfeld and Christine E. Stauffer ‘as among the most important of the artist’s entire graphic oeuvre’.

When Kirchner first came to stay in Davos in 1917 to seek treatment after a mental break down, he soon found that he needed the surroundings of a private home to create the inner space and freedom to be able to paint and create prints.  Through his doctor, Dr. Braun, he was introduced to a farmer named Ruesch, from whom he rented the alpine hut on Stafelalp. Kirchner formed a fond friendship with Ruesch’s son, Dr. Ruesch, and daughter-in-law, Annemarie Jacobson Ruesch. This resulted in Dr. Ruesch accumulating the most outstanding collection of prints by Kirchner, including this lot, Kühe im Frühling. ‘...while we were in Davos, our good friend, Dr. Bauer, had introduced us to one of his patients, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the German artist.....we went to visit him, we enjoyed his company and practiced shooting with bow and arrow, a sport he was fond of.’’ (From Annemarie Jacobson Ruesch’s unpublished memoir.)

Stafelalp gave Kirchner refuge and creative space and he would return to this alpine ideal over the next 20 years, producing some of his most important and famous paintings and prints. Tragically, it was also here where he committed suicide in June 1938.