Woodcut in colors.
Ebner/Gabelmann 739 H III B (of III B). Dube H 318 III B (of III B). Signed and with the hand-written printer's note of Fritz Voigt "gedr. F. Voigt". One of 15 known copies from the unnumbered edition published by Graphisches Kabinett I. B. Neumann, Berlin, with the printer's note of Fritz Voigt. 46 x 32.5 cm. Sheet: 59 x 47 cm.
Printed by Fritz Voigt, Berlin, around 1920/21 and published by 'Verlag Graphisches Kabinett I. B. Neumann', Berlin. [CH].
- A milestone in the graphic art of Expressionism. - High-contrast print in black, blue, green and ochre with an almost painterly application of color and a print quality that distinguishes all known copies from the three printing states. - Probably the most important self-portrait in the artist's oeuvre. - The angular, expressive formal language is reminiscent of Heckel's "Brücke" style before World War I. - In 1963 on the poster for the comprehensive exhibition of prints at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, mounted on the occasion of Heckel's 80th birthday, and in 2015 on the cover of the exhibition catalog "Max Kaus - Erich Heckel. Eine Künstlerfreundschaft" at the Brücke-Museum Berlin. - Other copies of this print are in museums like the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Brücke-Museum in Berlin and the Kunsthalle Hamburg.
The work is not subject to any claims on the part of the city of Düsseldorf or the Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf. We are grateful to Christiane Jungklaus, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, for her research and her kind expert advice.
LITERATURE: Renate Ebner, Andreas Gabelmann, Erich Heckel. Werkverzeichnis der Druckgraphik, vol. 2 (1914-1968), Munich 2021, no. 739 H, pp. 104f. -- Krieg und Frieden vor 30 Jahren, Expressionistische und nach-expressionistische Druckgraphik, Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Düsseldorf 1947, p. 9. Katja Schneider, Moderne und Gegenwart. Das Kunstmuseum in Halle, Munich 2008, p. 127 (illu.) Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 306, SHG no. 466 (illu.). Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 215, SHG no. 487 (illu.).
