Jakob Bosshart: Neben der Heerstrasse (Jakob Bosshart: Near Main Street) 1922

Editor: This is 'Jakob Bosshart: Near Main Street' created by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in 1922, using woodcut as a print medium. The stark colors and angular figures give it a really uneasy, almost distressed, feel. What's your take on it? Curator: Distressed is a perfect word! It reminds me of stumbling upon a half-remembered dream, or maybe a harsh melody stuck in your head. Kirchner was deeply impacted by war and societal change, you know. Expressionism, especially in woodcuts like this, gave artists a language for raw emotion. Editor: It’s so… jagged. Like the whole thing could splinter. Curator: Exactly! He's not trying to give us a pretty picture. Those brutal lines? They’re meant to jolt us. The clashing colors amplify that unease. Think about it: What kind of emotional weather demands such intense hues? Editor: Weather! I like that. It’s definitely not sunshine. But the title references a main street, which feels so ordinary compared to the artwork’s impact. Curator: Paradoxes are often the most revealing, don't you think? Perhaps Kirchner’s suggesting even the everyday is riddled with anxieties, unseen cracks just beneath the surface. The ordinary can be deeply unsettling. What stories do you think these faces hold? Editor: Stories of hardship, maybe isolation. You know, I hadn’t thought of the "ordinary" being unsettling. But looking at this, I get it. It's not just a portrait; it's a statement about a fractured society. Curator: Absolutely! It leaves me pondering what’s hiding behind our own “main streets,” you know?