The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Print in black ink of an abstracted man from waist up, looking to our left and holding his fingertips to his forehead, wider than the rest of his face, which narrows towards the chin. His lips turn down, eyes wide, and black creases cover his face. His solid black clothes contrast with the patterned background, moving from textured rock-like silhouettes in the upper half, to intersecting lines then flaked away chunks in the lower.

Man on a Plain (Self-portrait) (Mann in der Ebene [Selbstbildnis])

1917

Erich Heckel

(German, 1883–1970)
Germany
woodcut on wove paper
Image: 37.8 x 28.3 cm (14 7/8 x 11 1/8 in.); Sheet: 70 x 55.9 cm (27 9/16 x 22 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Davis in memory of Harvey Buchanan and Penelope Draper Buchanan 2016.598
© Artists Right Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Dube 305, state II/II [state IIA, outside the edition of 40]
Location: Not on view

Description

Erich Heckel made this woodcut while he was working as a wartime ambulance driver in Ostend, Belgium; it portrays his own perception of the oppressiveness of war. Avoiding overt signs of the conflict, Heckel instead depicted himself on the verge of despair, his hands clasped to his head. The jagged lines of the sky relay the weight of the world. He used a gouged woodblock to create a landscape full of movement yet desolate, one that offers no escape from the suffering.
  • Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 14-May 27, 2018).
  • {{cite web|title=Man on a Plain (Self-portrait) (Mann in der Ebene [Selbstbildnis])|url=false|author=Erich Heckel|year=1917|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.598