Vier tanzende Mädchen (Original Title) 1933

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this etching, Vier tanzende Mädchen, which translates to Four Dancing Girls, with a drypoint needle on zinc. There’s a real freshness in the way Kirchner’s made this image, a sense of something captured quickly. The figures are described with a single, almost continuous line, and these scratchy, energetic marks create a feeling of movement. Look at how the lines vary in weight, some barely there, others more assertive. It’s like he’s feeling his way around the forms, letting the line wander and find its own path. The bodies are all angles and energy, full of nervous exuberance. Kirchner’s not interested in idealized beauty here. The artist seems to be saying that art doesn’t have to be perfect or polished, it can be raw, immediate, and full of life. Kirchner reminds me of Picasso, especially those simple, playful line drawings. Both of them understood that a single line could capture a whole world of feeling.