Badende 1905

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this pastel drawing of bathers, maybe somewhere in Germany, its figures outlined in black against a sandy colored ground. Imagine Kirchner out there with his pastels, squinting in the sun, trying to capture the casual way people lounge and gather. I can almost feel the give and take between him and the scene, each mark a decision, a response to what he sees and feels. Kirchner's mark-making has this nervous energy, with lines that feel both precise and unstudied. The bodies are so casually rendered, almost like shorthand, yet they convey so much about gesture and attitude. Doesn't it make you wonder about the dialogue artists have across time, and how the simple act of putting color on paper can open up new ways of seeing and feeling the world?