Dodo with a Japanese Umbrella 1909

This is Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s print titled "Dodo with a Japanese Umbrella," and I am really feeling the pull of the artist trying to solve a riddle. I see the artist circling around the figure. They’ve used these assertive, almost brutal lines, especially in the face, to describe the contours of the figure. The way the orange bleeds into the ground and the black scratches define form is quite arresting. The artist seems to want to strip the image of any seductive qualities and depict something raw and honest. I think of Kirchner and the other Expressionists in Germany wrestling with the legacy of Impressionism, which had this lightness and beauty, versus a turn toward psychological insight. Painting is a conversation between people, between movements. It keeps on going!