Alfred Döblin. 1914.
Pencil drawing.
With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the hand-written registration numbber "K Be/Ba 8" on the reverse. On thin off-white wove paper. Ca. 43.4 x 32.2 cm (17 x 12.6 in), size of sheet.
With the black chalks drawing of a dairymaid in front of a hut on the reverse, around 1920, the full sheet. [CH].
• In 1913, the novel "Das Stiftsfräulein und der Tod" by Alfred Döblin (1878-1957), illustrated with many woodcuts by Kirchner, was released.
• A portrait of Dr. Alfred Döblin in oil on canvas is part of the collection of the Busch-Reisinger-Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge/Mass.
• Simila portraits of Alfred Döblin by E. L. Kirchner are at, among others, the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main and the Brücke Museum, Berlin.
• Kirchner also eternalized Döblin with the characteristic round glasses in several photographs (cf. Scotti, ELK. Das fotografische Werk, cat. no. 202, 203).
• In a letter from 1931, Kirchner called him one of his few real friends.
• Painted on both sides: with a black chalks drawing of a dairymaid in front of a hut on the reverse, presumably a preliminary study for the dairymaid in E. L. Kirchner's monumental frieze "Alpsonntag" (1923-25, Kunstmuseum Bern).

PROVENANCE: Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 263, SHG no. 378 (fig. p. 262).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, pp. 339f., SHG no. 762 (fig.).

In good condition. Slight even discoloration and isolated kinks and rubbings. With a faint diagonal creasing. Center of left edge with a tiny split. Edges with isolated superficial skinnings from a former mounting. Mounted for viewing of both sides. Upper edge slightly loose. [JS]