Members of the Brücke Artists' Group (Titelvignette) [Mitglieder der Künstlergruppe Brücke (title vignette)] (plate, folio 16 verso) from KG Brücke

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

1910 (print executed 1907)

A small woodcut title vignette by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner printed in a Brücke exhibition catalogue, meant to announce the artists’ group and embody their raw, expressive aesthetic.

A compact black-and-white block that immediately arrests the eye with crude, energetic carving: bold, hand-lettered German text sits inside a heavy rectangular frame flanked by two elongated, simplified nude figures whose flattened silhouettes read like a primitive logo.

As a graphic emblem for Die Brücke, this woodcut illustrates the group’s revival of woodcut as an immediate, democratic medium and helped shape the visual language of German Expressionism and modern graphic design.

Palette

Art Terms

Expressionism Woodcut Illustrated book Print Artist collective Graphic design Die Brücke(The Bridge)

Exhibitions

German Drawing: The Expressionists

1974

German Art of the 20th Century

1957

Drawing in Austria and Germany

1985

German Painting and Sculpture

1931