KIRCHNER AND THE BERLIN STREET

ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER (1880-1938)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's remarkable Berlin Street Scenes painting series, a highpoint of the artist's work and a milestone of German Expressionism, is widely understood as a metaphor for modernity itself through its depiction of life in a major metropolis. As the most extensive consideration of these paintings in English, this richly illustrated volume examines the creative process undertaken by the artist as he explored his theme in various mediums, and presents a major body of related drawings, pen-and-ink studies, pastels, etchings, woodcuts, and lithographs. An essay by Deboray Wye investigates the significance of the streetwalker as the primary motif of this series, and provides insight into the series in the context of Kirchner's wider oeuvre.