Wild cows c. 1933

Curator: Well, look at this sketch; there's such movement and raw energy. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "Wild Cows," from around 1933. It's housed here at the Städel Museum and done with simple pencil on paper. Editor: Wild, yes. Almost frantically wild, don't you think? It's like catching a glimpse of a primal memory, some deeply buried fear of nature unleashed. Those lines feel like frantic scribbles more than careful rendering. Curator: Precisely. Notice how Kirchner uses a mere handful of lines to evoke form? He suggests musculature and tension, barely containing the bovine energy within the sketch's confines. This minimalism connects to an ancient archetype of cattle as a symbol. Editor: Mmm, archetypes... So, these aren’t just cows but vessels of some elemental power? I can dig it! But also, those figures to the right – the observing onlookers, perhaps? Are they meant to be us? It has some theatrical presence like some play put on with masks, right? Curator: Could be interpreted that way! The Expressionist aesthetic often sought to portray inner emotional states rather than precise external reality. They also bear a relation with mythology, such as Dionysus’ bulls and goats; thus we circle back again to archetypes. This, I feel, embodies this aspect beautifully. Kirchner simplifies yet amplifies. Editor: Amplification is the word! It’s more about feeling than seeing, like hearing a distorted guitar riff rather than a clear melody. These aren’t pretty pastoral scenes; this is the brute essence of cow-ness laid bare. Makes me wonder if all that Expressionist angst just needed a field full of animals to run around in. Curator: A cathartic field indeed! He harnesses the innate cultural weight and instinctive recognizability to achieve a psychological intensity through minimalistic style. I always saw how a certain atavistic tension is felt when one truly gazes upon an open field. Editor: Atavistic tension...I’m adding that to my arsenal. Well, I initially came thinking what's the big deal of scribbled cows, now I feel they will haunt my very soul until the end of my days! Curator: Indeed, they might. Until the next journey into the depth and marvel that's art.