Heads of Two Girls 1919

Here we have Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s print, Heads of Two Girls, made by incising lines into a copper plate. The resulting image is raw and direct, like a fleeting thought captured in a web of lines. What grabs me about this print is how Kirchner uses the starkness of the etched line to build form and emotion. The density of the lines on the hair of the girl in profile gives it weight, a real presence. But look at the other girl’s face – barely there, just a few lines defining her features, as if she's fading into the background. There's a sense of intimacy, but also distance, maybe a hint of melancholy. Kirchner was part of the Expressionist group Die Brücke, and you can see that rebellious spirit in his work. He’s kind of like Edvard Munch in that way, baring his soul with every scratch of the needle. Kirchner isn’t trying to show you reality as it is, but rather how it feels to be alive, raw and unfiltered.