Nude Wearing a Black Hat 1911 - 1912

This stark woodcut, Nude Wearing a Black Hat, at the Städel Museum, is by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Imagine Kirchner, wrestling with the block, carving away to reveal a figure. See how the black ink dominates, shapes emerging from the shadows. There’s a tension here. I wonder what it was like for Kirchner, a founding member of the artist group Die Brücke, to carve out this figure? To think about how each cut of the chisel would define the space around her, her form emerging, yet still bound within the sharp contours of the woodcut. She almost seems defiant with her hat, standing amidst jagged planes. There’s a rawness, an urgency, that feels connected to other Expressionist artists. Each mark becomes a statement, a feeling etched into the surface. Ultimately, Kirchner's print is a kind of experiment that reflects the artist's exploration of form, and a deep dive into the possibilities of what can be said with the fewest marks.