Kirchner Woodcuts Benjamin Badock, Gabriela Jolowicz and Thomas Kilpper   09.11.2024 – 09.03.2025

Kirchner Woodcuts: Benjamin Badock, Gabriela Jolowicz and Thomas Kilpper

In contrast to the current flood of digital images, the old medium of woodcuts shows backbone: Woodcuts are powerful, clear and direct. Each cut is a decision. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Expressionists celebrated it as an experimental means of representation. In particular, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938), the co-founder of the artist group Die Brücke, viewed his prints as being on par with painting. In woodcuts, many of his hand-printed works are equal to unique works of art.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Five Cocottes, 1913/14

Woodcut, Private collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self-portrait, 1905/06

Woodcut, Private collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

Benjamin Badock, Aufstellung – Pudelmütze (Bobble Hat), 2023

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

 

Gabriela Jolowicz, Nele and Donata in a Bistro, 2023

Woodcut, © Gabriela Jolowicz

 

Thomas Kilpper, There Is No Apocalypse – Only Catastrophes! Contemporary Footprints

Installation view 2015, The National Museum, Oslo, Courtesy Galerie Nagel-Draxler, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024, photo: Annar Bjørgli

 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Woman in the Night, 1919

Colour woodcut, Private collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Sertig Road in Winter, 1924

Woodcut, Private collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bathers Throwing Reeds, 1909

Colour woodcut, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Dance of Colours, 1933

Colour woodcut, Private collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, English Step Dancers, 1911

Colour woodcut, Private collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self-portrait, woodcutting, 1921

Woodcut, Private collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen

 

The exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen shows around 180 high-calibre woodcut works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and provides an in-depth look into all his creative periods. On display are impressive prints, some large format, including many complicated colour woodcuts. Kirchner’s nudes, portraits, townscapes and landscapes reflect existential states of human existence ranging from desire, agonizing solitude and the need for community, to fear and violence and the longing for peace and quiet.

In their motifs and expressive energy, Kirchner’s woodcuts are the inspiration for contemporary artists. Consequently, the exhibition also examines the current state of woodcut.
Benjamin Badock (*1974, Chemnitz), Gabriela Jolowicz (*1978, Salzgitter) and Thomas Kilpper (*1956, Stuttgart) work exclusively in the medium of woodcuts. In a critical and enjoyable exploration of Kirchner’s art, they develop expansive installations which are in turn receptive to Kirchner’s works.

 

(Fig. exhibition overview & top of page: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self Portrait, 1905/06 (Detail), woodcut, Private Collection, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen)

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