Taunustannen. 1916.
Lithograph.
With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the handwritten number “L 300 D” on the reverse. One of just six known copies. On yellowish wove paper. 61 x 52 cm (24 x 20.4 in). Sheet: 67,7 x 54,4 cm (26,7 x 21,4 in).


• Two of the six known copies of this lithograph are in museum collections today: in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and in the Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern (another one is on permanent loan to the Kirchner Museum, Davos).
• In 1915/16, the artist spent a few weeks at the sanatorium of Dr. Kohnstamm in Königstein im Taunus.
• Before Kirchner turned to this motif more often after moving to Switzerland, he had already captured the pointed dense pine forest of the Taunus hills in his work.
• In the same year, Kirchner created a painting of the same name (Gordon 452, destroyed in 1945), as well as a related sketch (Presler Skb 52/55) and a woodcut (Gercken 790).

PROVENANCE: The artist's estate (Davos 1938, Kunstmuseum Basel 1946).
Kirchner community of heirs, Biberach (1954).
Walter Köhler Collection, Munich (since 1954, heir to Walter Kirchner (1882-1954), brother of the artist).
Since then in family ownership.

LITERATURE: Günther Gercken, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kritisches Werkverzeichnis der Druckgraphik, vol. 3 (1912-1916), Bern 2015, p. 285, cat. rais. no. 792 (illustrated)
Annemarie and Wolf-Dieter Dube, E. L. Kirchner. Das graphische Werk, Munich 1967, cat. rais. no. L 312.
Gustav Schiefler, Die Graphik Ernst Ludwig Kirchners, vol. 1 (until 1916), Berlin-Charlottenburg 1926, cat. rais. no. 300.

In good condition. Large format. The sheet with slight mount staining, the yellow of the paper no longer visible in this area. The sheet is somewhat creased in the upper margin. Otherwise only a few small creases and handling marks. There is a more pronounced diagonal crease in the upper right part of the image. Tiny isolated marks originating from the production process in the marginal areas. A narrow brownish discoloration in the upper left margin (outside of the image). Scattered tiny tears in the sheet edges (approx. 1.1 to 2.2 cm).
For information concerning the condition, please view the high resolution image / backside image.