Erich Heckel

Galerie Roman Norbert Ketterer, Campione (acquired from the artist by 1966)
Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner

Munich, Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer; Hanover, Kunstverein & Campione, Galerie Roman Norbert Ketterer, Erich Heckel, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, 1966, no. 7, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza; Barcelona, Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya & Berlin, Brücke-Museum, Brücke - Die Geburt des Deutschen Expressionismus, 2005-06, no. 16 (Madrid & Barcelona) & no. 14 (Berlin)

Paul Vogt, Erich Heckel, Recklinghausen, 1965, no. 2, illustrated p. 213

The board is stable and there are no signs of retouching visible under UV light. Apart from a 9cm. line of craquelure in the lower right corner with a very small associated paint loss to the 'H' of the signature, this work is in very good condition.
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In its maturity and immediacy of style Elbkahn (Kahn auf der Elbe) marks one of Erich Heckel's most significant periods in his extensive œuvre. Heckel entered the Technische Hochschule (Technical College) in 1904 to study architecture in Dresden, where he met Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Fritz Bleyl, and joined their drawing and painting sessions. The following year, after Schmidt-Rottluff had also arrived in Dresden to study at the college, they organised as the Künstlergruppe Die Brücke. Painted in 1904, the present work is one of Heckel's rare early paintings which he completed just before the official formation of Die Brücke in June 1905 and as such it marks the birth of one of the most important avant-garde movements of the early 20^th century.

With its defined brushstrokes, vivid colouration and heavy impasto technique the present work reveals not only the artist's dept to Post-Impressionist painters such as Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin but stands as a precursor to the pictorial and aesthetic ideas of Expressionism. The celebration of colours in Elbkahn (Kahn auf der Elbe) clearly demonstrates Heckel's concern with the emotional experience of the work rather than the physical reality of the subject. Commenting on Heckel's early maturity of style, Paul Vogt noted: 'Looking at Heckel's early paintings one can immediately recognise his extraordinary painterly talent. His precision in style and application of paint is simply remarkable' (P. Vogt, op. cit., p. 8, translated from German).

Fig. 1, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Boote auf der Elbe bei Dresden, circa 1910-20, oil on canvas, Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington