The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Couple in Room, Nude Man with Woman

Couple in Room, Nude Man with Woman

1915–16
(German, 1880–1938)
Germany, 20th century
Lithograph on yellow paper
Image: 59.5 x 50.5 cm (23 7/16 x 19 7/8 in.); Sheet: 71.1 x 57.4 cm (28 x 22 5/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1991.24
Catalogue raisonné: Dube 321
Location: not on view

Description

The man in this image resembles one of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s close friends, Hugo Biallowons, who was killed in World War I shortly after this print was made. Kirchner depicted the man in a cramped space next to a nude woman who reaches for him without making eye contact. The yellow paper suggests artificial light. Kirchner owned one large lithographic stone, from which he made one lithograph after another simply by sanding down the stone, and then starting again with a new composition. This resulted in very small editions. By spreading water mixed with turpentine over the surface of the stone to loosen the lithographic crayon, he created unexpected and spontaneous results, seen here in the grainy and broken lines.
  • Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland
    ?-1991
    (R.M. Light & Co., Inc., Santa Barbara, CA)
    March 27, 1991
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Glaubinger, Jane. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 99 www.jstor.org
    Glaubinger, Jane, "Twentieth-Century Revolution", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 41 no. 10, December 2001 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9 archive.org
    Peters, Emily J. “Graphic Discontent: The German Expressionists strove for spontaneity and unexpected results.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 58. no. 1 (January/February 2018): Cover, 5-7, 22. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 6.
  • Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 14-May 27, 2018).
    Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).
  • {{cite web|title=Couple in Room, Nude Man with Woman|url=false|author=Ernst Ludwig Kirchner|year=1915–16|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.24