Renunciation (Entsagung)

1908

Max Pechstein

(German, 1881–1955)

Culture

Germany, 20th century

Medium

lithograph

Credit Line

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1959.328

Catalogue raisonné

Krüger L27

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

This unconventional image of a nude woman focuses not on the beauty of the female body but instead on its physical discomfort. The title of the print implies that the woman renounces the material world around her—perhaps by necessity rather than choice. Max Pechstein and other members of the Dresden-based Expressionist group Die Brücke began to print their own lithographs in 1907. In keeping with their desire to challenge traditional print processes, they dramatically altered their drawings once on the lithographic stone. Here, Pechstein disturbed the ink by applying a wash made with turpentine, creating grainy globules across blurred and broken lines, an effect that further emphasizes the woman’s state of physical and emotional isolation.