Mann in der Ebene

Details

ERICH HECKEL (1883-1970)
Mann in der Ebene
woodcut, 1917, on wove paper, signed and dated in pencil, a good impression from the edition of forty, printed by Fritz Voigt, Berlin, with his signature in pencil, published in the portfolio Elf Holzschnitte, 1912-1919 by J. B. Neumann, Berlin, 1921, the full sheet, a deckle edge above, with pale time staining, a few unobtrusive pinpoint foxmarks in the margins, otherwise in good condition, framed
Block 375 x 270 mm., Sheet 619 x 500 mm.

Provenance

Acquired by the present owner in 1985.

Literature

Dube 305 IIB

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Murray Macaulay

mmacaulay@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2252

Lot Essay

Erich Heckel created this woodcut in 1917 while serving in Flanders as a medical orderly. The lonely figure, clearly a self-portrait, standing in a barren landscape under a sky torn by mortar fire is an emblematic image for the despair and existential angst felt by those who experienced the slaughter and destruction of World War I. This woodcut is also a precursor to one of the most iconic images of German Expressionism, Heckel's colour woodcut Männerbildnis (D. 318) of 1919.

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