MoMA

German Expressionism

Works from the Collection


Styles Themes Techniques | Artists Print Publishers | Illustrated Books Portfolios Periodicals | Maps Chronology

THE COLLECTION

Search Results

Showing 90 of 182

About this work

Heather Hess, German Expressionist Digital Archive Project, German Expressionism: Works from the Collection. 2011.

Gathering Lovis Corinth's articles from various art periodicals and Berlin newspapers, this collection features reminiscences of his boyhood in East Prussia, an essay on etching, a rumination on his travels to Italy, his inaugural lecture as president of the Berlin Secession (a modernist exhibiting society), and his thoughts on contemporary German art. The book also includes eight black-and-white lithographs by Corinth portraying Berlin monuments, the frescoes at the Campo Santo in Pisa, the death mask of socialist leader Karl Liebknecht, and German paintings the artist admired. This range of themes hints at the varied subjects and styles Corinth addressed throughout his long and prolific career.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

After World War I, when there was limited access to canvas and a declining market for expensive oil paintings, Corinth turned increasingly to printmaking for its financial promise. He collaborated closely with Wolfgang Gurlitt, a Berlin dealer who also published prints and illustrated books by Expressionists and other leading artists. Upon this book's publication, Corinth wrote to Karl Schwarz, the author of the first catalogue raisonné of his prints, saying, "Overall it’s nice, but actually I don’t like it. Hopefully it will sell well. That’s the most important thing."

Lovis Corinth (German, 1858–1925)

Karl Liebknecht (plate facing page 104) from Gesammelte Schriften (Collected Writings)

View the interactive
page-turning animation »
Date:
1920
Medium:
Lithograph from an illustrated book with eight lithographs
Dimensions:
composition (irreg.): 6 7/16 x 5 3/16" (16.4 x 13.1 cm); page: 11 7/16 x 9 1/8" (29.1 x 23.1 cm)
Paper:
Cream, smooth, laid.
Publisher:
Fritz Gurlitt, Berlin
Printer:
unknown
Edition:
Book: Deluxe edition of 120 and an unknown regular edition [this ex.]; plus separate edition of single print: 15
Credit Line:
Curt Valentin Bequest
Reference:
Schwarz L 420.
MoMA Number:
71.1956.8
Themes:
Death, Portraits, Postwar Politics
Techniques:
Lithography

Share by E-mail
Share by Text Message