Artisten. 1909/10.
Color Chalk drawing.
Verso with the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the hand-written registration number "FS Dre/Bh 15". On paper. 45 x 33 cm (17.7 x 12.9 in), size of sheet.
Verso with an unfinished portrait in black chalks.
The visit of the artists Milly, Sam and Nelly at Kirchner's Dresden studio on Berliner Straße 80 is also documented in several photographs. [JS].

• From the best "Brücke" period.
• Masterly drawing, particularly exemplary of Kirchner's fascinating feeling for the relationship between painted and unpainted surfaces, his accentuating strokes and his loose, airy use of color.
• Large-format color chalk drawing with a rare exotic motif: the artist Milly is one of Kirchner's preferred models alongside the dark-skinned artists Sam and Nelly from around 1910.
• Exhibited several times since 1962.
• From the important "Brücke" collection of Hermann Gerlinger.

PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate.
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: E.L. Kirchner. Aquarelle, Pastelle, Handzeichnungen, Galerie Nierendorf Berlin, November 20, 1961 - February 28, 1962, cat. no. 55 (black-and-white illu.).
Kirchner 1880-1938. Oils, Watercolors, Drawings and Graphics, Marlborough Fine Art London, June-July 1969, cat. no. 26 (black-and-white illu.).
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 146f., SHG no. 135 (illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 305, SHG no. 692 (illu.).
Gerd Presler, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Seine Frauen, seine Modelle, seine Bilder, München/New York 1998, p. 34.

Beautiful harmonious impression. Evenly browned and with smoothed creases and rubbing, primarily in the corners and along the edges. Left and upper edge with a few tiny tears, partly professionally closed. Upper left corner with tiny paper loss. A few small stains in the lower margin.