THES eAGGRESSIVE LINE minal drawings of women akim monet SIDE BY SIDE GALLERY
Front cover left, detail: W. DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Study for Seated Woman, 1946-1948
Front cover right, detail: E. L. KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Nude with cat, 1929
THES eAGGRESSIVE LINE minal drawings of women
Side by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH Potsdamer Strasse 81b 10785 Berlin - Germany T. +49-30-25 46 09 44 F. +49-30-25 46 09 45 info@sidebysidegallery.com www.sidebysidegallery.com
PREFACE I am delighted to start the year with E.L. Kirchner & W. De Kooning THE AGGRESSIVE LINE. The subject of women caught in an intimate posture has been a recurring theme in the History of Modern Art. Where Titian captured our imagination with “Portrait d’une femme à sa toilette” as did Velasquez with his “Vénus à son miroir”, Renoir with his many “Toilette” and even more so Degas with his myriad variations of women bathing in a shallow tub, allowed us to steal an almost voyeuristic glance at the intimacy of women bathing. Then came E.L. Kirchner: his treatment of the same subject translates the complete casualness of the moment, the women are bathing, getting dressed, doing their hair –and we are there with them, therein lies his genius: with a couple of strokes he invites us in –in all simplicity! This noninconsequential goal having been achieved, Kirchner proceeds to play with line and shape –giving free rein to his mastery. Soon, the stroke takes-over and the subject matter becomes almost secondary to the medium: chalk, pencil, wash, charcoal, on paper, card… whatever is at hand. The line becomes the intent –aggressive in its will to survive, beyond Kirchner’s death by suicide in 1938. By coincidence, De Kooning met Elaine in the same year –the drawings in this exhibition are among the ones Elaine De Kooning had kept for herself–the 1946-1948 “Study for Seated Woman” would have challenged Kirchner –I know it! I -feel it! Ernst-Ludwig, meet Willem; Willem meet Ernst-Ludwig – and please allow us a fleeting glance into your intimate conversation… Akim Monet
Berlin, January 18, 2013
JUXTAPOSITIONS the act of placing two or more things side by side
Origin of JUXTAPOSITION Latin juxta near + English position JOUST: to engage in combat or competition as if in a joust ‘jousting debaters’ ‘jousting bighorn rams’ From Merriam-Webster
Detail: Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Study for Seated Woman, 1946-1948
Detail: Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Woman washing, 1930
Detail: Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Seated Woman, 1955
Detail: Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Nude with cat, 1929
Detail: Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Interior with Female Nudes, 1925
Detail: Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Untitled, early 60’s
Detail: Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Peasant and Girl on a Forest Path, 1920
Detail: Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Man’s Head, c. 1964
PLATES
I. Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Woman dressing, 1915 Pen and India ink on paper 47,5 x 39,3 cm (18 3/4 x 15 1/2 in.) Stamped on the verso with the estate stamp and numbered ‘K Be/Bg 71’ and inscribed ‘K 666’ and ‘4298’. Verso: Mother and child at the hearth, 1920 Black chalk Provenance Estate of the artist
II. Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Study for Seated Woman, 1946-1948 Pencil on cardboard 28 x 24 cm (11 x 9 1/2 in.) With a letter by Mr. Michael Luyckx, the nephew of Elaine de Kooning who was the executor of the Estate of Elaine de Kooning, confirming that the work was sold directly by the Estate. Provenance Elaine De Kooning Private collection (Acquired from the estate of the above)
This work was created in preparation for de Kooning’s first solo exhibition at the Charles Egan Gallery in New York in 1948, which established his reputation in the New York art scene virtually overnight. Clement Greenberg discovered him there, describing him in ‘The Nation’ as “one of the four or five most important painters in the country”. The paintings de Kooning showed at the exhibition verged on abstraction, consisting of black and white biomorphic forms. If those works are compared to “Study for Seated Woman”, it becomes clear that the idea of ‘woman’, although depicted in an almost unrecognizably fragmented form, was already the subject of those early de Kooning paintings.
III. Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Woman washing, 1930 Charcoal on paper 45 x 37,8 cm (17 3/4 x 14 7/8 in.) Stamped on the verso with the estate stamp and numbered ‘K Da/Bg 1 90’. Provenance Estate of the artist
IV. Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Seated Woman, 1955 Charcoal on tracing paper 61 x 47 cm (24 x 18 1/2 in.) With a letter by Mr. Michael Luyckx, the nephew of Elaine de Kooning who was the executor of the Estate of Elaine de Kooning, confirming that the work was sold directly by the Estate. Provenance Elaine De Kooning Private collection (Acquired from the estate of the above)
V. Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Nude with cat, 1929 pen an Indian ink, washed, on paper 49 x 36 cm (19 1/4 x 14 1/8 in.) Stamped on the verso with the estate stamp and numbered ‘F Da/Bg 67’ and ‘K 4175’ and ‘C 2268’. Provenance Estate of the artist
VI. Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Interior with Female Nudes, 1925 Reed pen on paper 52,5 x 36 cm (20 5/8 x 14 1/8 in.) Stamped on the verso with the estate stamp and numbered ‘Fda/Bg 24’ and numbered ‘K 4227’ and ‘C 2644’ in ink and pencil and numbered ‘3859’ in pencil. Provenance Estate of the artist
VII. Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Untitled, early 60’s Charcoal on paper 22,5 x 30 cm (8 7/8 x 11 3/4 in.) With a letter by Mr. Michael Luyckx, the nephew of Elaine de Kooning who was the executor of the Estate of Elaine de Kooning, confirming that the work was sold directly by the Estate. Provenance Elaine De Kooning Private collection (Acquired from the estate of the above)
VIII. Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Peasant and Girl on a Forest Path, 1920 India ink and charcoal on copperplate printing paper 49,7 x 34,8 cm (19 1/2 x 13 3/4 in) Stamped on the verso with the estate stamp and numbered ‘P Da/Bc 16’. Provenance Estate of the artist
IX. Willem DE KOONING (1904 – 1997) Man’s Head, c. 1964 India ink on paper 61 x 47 cm (24 x 18 1/2 in.) With a letter by Mr. Michael Luyckx, the nephew of Elaine de Kooning who was the executor of the Estate of Elaine de Kooning, confirming that the work was sold directly by the Estate. Provenance Elaine De Kooning Private collection (Acquired from the estate of the above)
X. Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880 – 1938) Kneeling Female Nude in Bathtub, 1911 Pencil on brown paper 42,5 x 33,1 cm (16 3/4 x 13 in.) Stamped on the verso with the estate stamp and numbered ‘B Dre/Bg 45’ and ‘K 2648’, ‘C 5482’ and ‘2273’. Provenance Estate of the artist
CATALOGUE DESIGN Anne-Marie Visconti Claudio Fortugno Akim Monet
Side by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH Potsdamer Strasse 81b 10785 Berlin - Germany T. +49-30-25 46 09 44 F. +49-30-25 46 09 45 info@sidebysidegallery.com www.sidebysidegallery.com