Bildnis Botho Graef 1915

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this portrait of Botho Graef with what looks like charcoal or pencil, creating a web of lines that somehow adds up to a face. There's something beautifully raw about the way Kirchner puts down these marks. It's like he's thinking through the drawing, letting us see his process. Look at the lines around the eyes – they’re not just describing shape, but also a kind of weight, a heaviness maybe? And the way he defines the nose with these sharp angles, it's almost like he's sculpting the face right on the page. The textures come alive in the face of the drawing. Kirchner was part of a group called Die Brücke, and you can see their interest in expressing emotion through bold, direct forms. This drawing reminds me a little of some of Schiele's portraits, that same intensity and focus on the inner life of the sitter. It’s like Kirchner is saying that a portrait doesn't have to be a perfect likeness; it can be a way of capturing a feeling, a mood, a moment in time.