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The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Past Exhibition

February 11 – May 27, 2024
West Building, Ground Floor, West Outer Tier

The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy presents insights into the work of these innovative, early 20th-century artists and their continuing impact a century later. The National Gallery of Art has important holdings of prints and drawings by German expressionists Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Emil Nolde, among others. The exhibition features recent acquisitions as well as works that have rarely, if ever, been on view, including gifts donated by celebrated Washington, DC, collectors Jacob and Ruth Cole Kainen. Among the early 20th-century artists represented in more than 100 prints, drawings, illustrated books, portfolios, and sculptures are Otto Dix, Käthe Kollwitz, Egon Schiele, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and lesser-known artists such as Walter Gramatté.

Through their bold, inventive art, the German expressionists sought to interpret the dramatic changes in the world around them during the tumultuous historical period 1900–1930, marked by world war and revolution. New scholarship following the recent World War I centenary adds depth to our understanding of these artists and their artistic heirs. Post-1950 and contemporary artists shown in the exhibition—Leonard Baskin, Nicole Eisenman, Orit Hofshi, Rashid Johnson, Matthias Mansen, and others—carry on the rich legacy of the German expressionists. These later artists invite us to compare the social, political, and cultural transformations taking place in our own societies today.

Explore Selected Works

The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Woman in the Woods (Frau im Wald), 1921, woodcut on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1951.10.402

© 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Kerry James Marshall, Thomas Lucas, Hummingbird Press Editions, Untitled (Man), 2017, woodcut, printed in dark brown and black inks, on Rives BFK paper, Gift of Mr. David and Dr. Lisa Grain and Family, 2018.34.1
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Matthias Mansen, Matthias Mansen, Matthias Mansen, Studio, Head and Feet (Studio, Kopf und Füße), 1987, color woodcut on wove paper, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Bell, 2000.106.5
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Orit Hofshi, Orit Hofshi, Time…thou ceaseless lackey to eternity, 2017, woodcut and rubbing with additions drawn in colored pencil and grease pencil on four sheets of handmade paper , Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2022.8.1.a-d
In shades of silvery gray and white, a cartoonish fist holds the handle of a beer stein so we look down into the glass. Filling the space around it, people sit, kiss, drink, or talk in a swirling, dream-like haze in this horizontal print.
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Nicole Eisenman, Harlan & Weaver, Harlan & Weaver, Beer Garden, 2012 - 2017, etching, aquatint, and drypoint printed chine collé on wove Hahnemühle paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2022.9.1
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Erich Heckel, Fritz Voigt, Israel Ber Neumann, Portrait of a Man (Männerbildnis) [Self-Portrait], 1919, color woodcut on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.9081
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Käthe Kollwitz, Fritz Voigt, Emil Richter Verlag, Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis von vorn), 1923, woodcut on Japanese paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1947.12.67
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Christian Rohlfs, Christian Rohlfs, unidentified, Death as Juggler (Revolution) (Tod als Jongleur [Revolution]), 1918/1919, woodcut, printed in blue-black, with opaque watercolor on wove paper , Rosenwald Collection, 1951.10.387
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fanny Wocke, 1916, woodcut on blotting paper, Ruth and Jacob Kainen Collection, Gift in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.156.3
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Street Scene after the Rain (Straßenszene, Nach dem Regen), 1914, woodcut on Japanese paper, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.683
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

George Grosz, Unknown, unpublished, Attack (Attentat), 1915, lithograph on laid paper, Purchased as the gift of Richard A. Simms and Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2017.100.1
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Käthe Kollwitz, Otto Felsing, Self-Portrait with Hand on Forehead (Selbstbildnis mit der Hand an der Stirn), 1910, etching and drypoint in black-brown ink on wove paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.5296
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Max Beckmann, Fritz Voigt, Israel Ber Neumann, Group Portrait, Eden Bar (Gruppenbildnis Edenbar), 1923, woodcut on wove paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.319
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Lovis Corinth, unidentified, Fritz Gurlitt, The Fall of Man (Der Sündenfall), 1919, woodcut on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1951.10.269
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Max Oppenheimer, Fritz Gurlitt, Pietà, 1912, drypoint on Japanese paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1971.35.5
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Emil Nolde, Emil Nolde, unidentified, Fishing Steamer (Fischdampfer), 1910, woodcut on wove paper, Epstein Family Fund, 1979.18.1
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, unidentified, unidentified, A Road with a Castle and Houses in Rocky Mountains (Straße mit Burg und Häusern in felsigem Gebirge), 1926, color woodcut on wove paper, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.151
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Erich Heckel, Fritz Voigt, Israel Ber Neumann, Siblings (Brother and Sister) [Geschwister], 1913, woodcut on wove paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1950.17.301
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Two Women (Zwei Frauen), 1914, lithograph, printed in black and pale orange inks, on wove paper, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.143
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Egon Schiele, Standing Nude with a Patterned Robe, 1917, opaque watercolor and charcoal on wove paper, Gift of The Robert and Mary M. Looker Family Collection, 2016.59.2
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Erich Heckel, unidentified, Fritz Gurlitt, Portrait of a Woman (Frauenkopf), 1922, lithograph on Japanese paper, Gift of Jacob Kainen, 2002.98.288
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy

Walter Gramatté, unidentified, Gustav Kiepenheuer, The Great Anxiety (Self-Portrait in Three-Quarter Profile to the Right) (Die große Angst [Selbstportrat, Kopf im Halbprofil nach rechts]), 1918, drypoint with transparent watercolor, Gift of Christopher and Beverly With in memory of Karl and Gerda With, 2022.155.5

Organization
Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

The exhibition is curated by Shelley Langdale, curator and head of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art.

Passes
Admission is always free and passes are not required