Couple in Room, Nude Man with Woman

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

The man in this image resembles one of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s close friends, Hugo Biallowons, who was killed in World War I shortly after this print was made. Kirchner depicted the man in a cramped space next to a nude woman who reaches for him without making eye contact. The yellow paper suggests artificial light. Kirchner owned one large lithographic stone, from which he made one lithograph after another simply by sanding down the stone, and then starting again with a new composition. This resulted in very small editions. By spreading water mixed with turpentine over the surface of the stone to loosen the lithographic crayon, he created unexpected and spontaneous results, seen here in the grainy and broken lines.

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