Accession Number
2007/2.101

Title
Landscape

Artist(s)
Erich Heckel

Artist Nationality
German (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1919

Medium & Support
graphite and ink on thin paper

Dimensions
11 3/4 in. x 7 3/8 in. ( 29.85 cm x 18.73 cm )

Credit Line
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection

Label copy
Erich Heckel
Germany, 1883–1970
Landscape
1919
Graphite and ink on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.101
Ernst Kirchner
Germany, 1880–1938
Curved Railroad Tracks, Taunus (Bahnkurve Taunus)
1915
Ink on artist board
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.103
While urban environments dominated much of Expressionism’s imagery, the provinces also played an important role in the art movement. Many urban-based Expressionists sought more affordable provincial living during their summers, while others sought time in rural areas for spiritual renewal. Erich Heckel spent many hours working en plein air—the traditional art practice of sketching outdoors—but transcribed what he saw into his own individual, free-flowing line.
The provinces also provided relief for strained nerves: following a breakdown in 1915, Kirchner spent the rest of his life in rural sanitariums or in his mountain home near Davos, Switzerland. Curved Railroad Tracks, Taunus, a study for a lithograph executed in 1916, was sketched during Kirchner’s 1915 sanitarium stay in the Taunus mountains of central Germany.

Subject matter
Rolling hills that appear divided into fields, with trees and a windmill on horizon; sky full of clouds. Likely a sketch done near the artist's summer home on the Baltic Sea.

Physical Description
Ink line drawing of a landscape; gently rolling hills, divided into plots, fill the bottom two-thirds. Brush and/or trees form borders between plots. On the horizon trees, a windmill, and possible buildlings appear. The sky is dotted with clouds.

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Primary Object Type
landscape

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
landscapes (environments)