In the Dressing Room (In der Garderobe) 1916

Erich Heckel made this etching of a figure in a dressing room, sometime, probably, in the earlier part of the 20th century. It is all nervous energy, isn’t it? I wonder if he was thinking about Edvard Munch as he made this? There's an intensity to the lines, particularly around the face, that makes me think of Munch’s portraits. The subject is caught in a private moment, but there’s nothing intimate about it. It feels like a raw nerve exposed. Those hands, are they shaking? I can imagine Heckel hunched over the plate, scratching away, trying to capture some kind of inner turmoil. It's like he’s digging for something, some truth that’s just beneath the surface. This print is a document of one man, Heckel, looking at another in a mirror. Who are they both? And what are they looking for?