Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: 1880-1938

One of the most prolific and creative of the German Expressionists, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) is noted for his mastery of the human form and the startling contrasts of pure color in his paintings. This gorgeous book--the first publication in English in 30 years on this leader of the Die Brucke movement--presents almost 150 of Kirchner's finest paintings, watercolors, prints, and sculptures, together with essays by leading scholars. Of all the artists in the early modern period, Kirchner was most responsive to the underlying tension between nature and civilization that fascinated his generation. This preoccupation culminates in his paintings of metropolitan Berlin, where he combines elegance with fierce rawness to reveal the potential wildness of the crowd. His master-pieces from the years 1905 to 1915, his most important and innovative period, are the focus of this book and the exhibition it accompanies, opening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in March 2003.