The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Print of an abstracted face outlined in black and colored dark green, with a wide forehead, narrowing to the chin in front of which the man clasps his hands, looking to our left. The man's face is covered with thick, black creases, lips pressed together, eyes narrowed. Black colors his shoulders and a black line arcs down behind his head from the upper left corner, colored burnt orange below and dark blue above.

Portrait of a Man

1919

Erich Heckel

(German, 1883–1970)
Germany, 20th century
color woodcut
Image: 46 x 32.6 cm (18 1/8 x 12 13/16 in.); Sheet: 69.9 x 55.7 cm (27 1/2 x 21 15/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1991.109
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Catalogue raisonné: Dube 318
Location: Not on view

Description

In this portrait, made one year after World War I ended, Erich Heckel inscribed his own face with the traumas and uncertainties of the period. The woodcut’s jagged angles and broad surfaces distill his facial features while still maintaining a likeness, resulting in the essence of an emotionally disturbed state. The green face further relays the sitter’s spiritual and physical trauma. Heckel first printed the black areas of the block, and then brushed the three colors onto a different block before printing them.
  • Turner, Evan H. "Selected 1991 Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (1992): 63-83. Reproduced: p. 74; Mentioned: p. 81 www.jstor.org
    Peters, Emily J. “Graphic Discontent: The German Expressionists strove for spontaneity and unexpected results.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58. no. 1 (January/February 2018): Cover, P. 5-7, 22. Reproduced: Cover, P. 7; Mentioned: P. 6 archive.org
  • Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 14-May 27, 2018).
    Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Man|url=false|author=Erich Heckel|year=1919|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.109