Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Estate of the artist
Roman Norbert Ketterer, Stuttgart (acquired from the above in 1954) 
Galerie Henze & Ketterer, Wichtrach, Bern (by descent from the above) 
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2001

Stuttgart, Deutscher Künstlerbund, 1930, no. 168, illustrated in the catalogue
Bern, Kunstmuseum, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1933, no. 90
Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Pinakothek der Moderne, Detective Stories, 2006, no. 15, illustrated in the catalogue

Kunstblatt, no. XIV/6, 1930, illustrated p. 166
Donald E. Gordon, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1968, Cambridge, Massachusetts, no. 933, illustrated p. 401

The canvas is partially strip-lined. There is a thin horizontal line of retouching across the neck of the right of the two central figures, a small area to the pale pigments of the body and a thin vertical line of retouching in the dark pigments of the stomach. There is a further area of retouching parallel to the upper edge, a small area in the upper right corner and some small retouchings, mainly around the framing edges, all visible under ultra-violet light. Apart from areas of craquelure throughout the composition, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the greens and purples are richer in the original.
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Painted in 1929, Tanzgruppe is a particularly bold example of Kirchner's mature post-war style. The twisting figures are decoratively composed across the entirety of the canvas and convey a sense of abandoned movement. In 1924 Kirchner had moved permanently to the Wildboden area of Switzerland at the mouth of the Sertig Valley. The subject of the present work, the female nude, was a defining motif for the Brücke artists, especially Kirchner whose most important works incorporated the nude into a variety of settings from domestic interiors and night-clubs to the outdoors. Throughout his years in Dresden and Berlin, Kirchner and his fellow Expressionists would engage in the outdoor activities of the Freikörperkultur, the naturist culture that swept Germany in the early 20th century. In the summer months at Wildboden, Kirchner would venture into the woods with a handful of female companions and encourage them to dance and pose for his camera. The resulting photographs were not used as direct sources for paintings but rather as referential evidence whilst working on his oils - to remind him of the emotional stimuli provoked at the time. The palette of deep greens and purples the artist has used in the background of Tanzgruppe recalls the verdant woodlands surrounding his mountain home.

During the 1920s Kirchner's style transformed and began to express his ideas in a more abstract manner. Kirchner was well aware of other avant-garde movements activities, even in the relative seclusion of the mountainous Swiss countryside. In 1925 he visited an exhibition of contemporary art in Zurich that featured works by his fellow Brücke members as well as Picasso and Braque (fig. 1). He left with a favourable impression of their work, stating that: 'The best and most unique is certainly Picasso, he strives for form in the old paintings as in the new ones' (quoted in D.E. Gordon, op. cit., p. 132). Gordon writes about the artist's transformation of style: 'One of the unexpected aspects of the abstract style in 1929 and later is its potential for expressional variation; colour especially becomes capable of conveying various moods [...]. In general, the style with which he concluded the 1920s achieves a content of subtly lyrical evocation appropriate to the abstract pictorial means employed' (D.E. Gordon, ibid., p. 136).

Fig. 1, Pablo Picasso, Les Trois Danseuses, 1925, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London