Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

The very rare lithograph printed in black and pink, the pink rich in texture, 1914, Gercken's second (final) state, without the darkening of the upper right corner, signed and dated '14' and annotated 'Handdruck' by Erna Schilling in black ink, one of seven recorded impressions, on smooth canary yellow paper

Ex coll. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner with his estate stamp (L. 1570b) verso, inscribed in ink L 266 III; probably Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett 25. Auktion, 27.11.1956, no. 468; New Art Center Gallery, USA, November 1959; acquired from the above by Ernesto Blohm, Caracas

Curt Glaser, Die Graphik der Neuzeit vom Anfang des XIX. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart, Berlin, 1922, illustrated p. 542

With margins, in good condition, the yellow paper attenuated within the subject due to light exposure, a triangular backed loss located at the dog's chest (approx. 5 by 1.3cm) probably occurring during printing (the inking consistent and backed with the same smooth canary yellow paper as the subject), two tiny puckered scrapes with associated minute paper losses (one in left standing figure, one on dog's back), a diagonal crease extending through upper left image (50cm), several vertical creases, other minor creases, three small pale brown stains at lower left and lower sheet edges, minor surface soiling at upper sheet corners, a 1cm tear at lower sheet edge, the verso with several hairline surface scratches in the sheet, just breaking through a mm or two in three places (mainly visible verso), unframed.
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Kirchner’s Berlin street scenes, produced between 1913 and 1915 in oil, watercolour, etching, woodcut, and lithographs, are the most celebrated body of work of his career. The artist visually represented the vitality of urban life with slanting aggressive lines and jarring perspectives. His street scenes are populated by prostitutes with swaying hips and dramatic plumed hats, and top-hatted gentlemen in long coats. The city’s energy and the dark glamour of its inhabitants reach a state of near abstraction in this lithograph Promenade vor dem Café. 

The arch of a large glass cafe window in the background shelters a lively interior scene. Round tables tilt towards the viewer, surrounded by dark-suited gentlemen.  Women, identifiable as prostitutes by their elaborate hats, hold the men’s attention.  On the street outside, three figures parade across the foreground of the composition. At left, a black-hatted prostitute in a pink dress looks to the right, towards a second figure in an angular black dress walking a large dog. The women’s bodies sway towards one another.  Her dog seems to nuzzle the hand of a man, at right, the man’s top-hatted head inclined towards the animal. The caustic pink colour both picks out the forms and obscures the black lines. It is a scene of pointed looks and cacophonous interactions, between the figures themselves and the lines and forms that depict them. 

Schiefler knew of no states of this print and records seven impressions in total. Dube cites three states, the first with looser lines, the second and third with progressively denser work. The first state exists in just one, hand coloured, impression. Gercken revises Dube, stipulating that the darker corners of Dube’s third state are simple variations in printing of the second (now final) state.  Of the five impressions of the final state, printed in black and pink, three are held in public collections: The British Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago (Gift of the Gecht Family, 2015), and the Coninx Stiftung, Zurich. There also exists one impression of the second state, printed only in black, and, like this coloured impression, also previously in the collection of Ernesto Blohm, Caracas.

Owing to the experimental nature of Kirchner’s printing techniques and the individuality of each hand-pulled print, each impression has a unique quality.

We are grateful to Professor Dr. Gunther Gercken for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.