Portrait eines jungen Mannes (Selbstportrait). Um 1905/06.
Black Chalk drawing.
Lower right signed and pre-dated "01". On creme paper. 29 x 24 cm (11.4 x 9.4 in), the full sheet. [CH/JS].


• With its strong and assertive lines, the drawing is bursting with youthful radicalism and creative power.
• An important period in art history: in 1905, E. L. Kirchner founded the "Brücke" grou with his former fellow students Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel and Fritz Bleyl.
• In comparison with contemporary photographs, the narrow facial features of the sitter suggest that this could be Kirchner's fellow artist Fritz Bleyl.
• In 1937, the artist sent the drawings, along with several other works, to Wilhelm R. Valentiner (1880-1958), then director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, in the hope of attracting new collectors in America.

The present work is documented in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/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. 132, SHG no. 103 (illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 288, SHG no. 650 (illu.).

In good condition. Sheet edges slightly irregular. Minimally browned and with isolated slightly rubbed spots and a small stain in the left edge. [JS]