Bauern mit Kuh. Um 1922.
Watercolor, ink brush and black chalks.
Lower right signed. On firm and smooth wove paper. 39.2 x 50 cm (15.4 x 19.6 in), the full sheet.
A photograph of this work is in Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "Photoalbum II", p. 343. [CH].

• Elaborate watercolor from the sought-after Davos period.
• Exhibited in the USA as early as 1955.
• An almost stage-like scene with animated foreground, middle ground and background.
• As a gifted draftsman, Kirchner adds motion to the animals and people in this depiction with just a few skillfully placed strokes.
• The motifs contained of this watercolor can also be found in Kirchner's famous oil triptych "Alpleben" (1918/19, Kirchner Museum, Davos).
• Kirchner's move to the mountains of the Swiss Alps led to a fascination for the hard life of mountain farmers, which he captured in photographs, watercolors, drawings and paintings.

The present work is registered in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/Bern.

PROVENANCE: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Dickson Reck, Berkeley (around 1930).
Private collection Sydney.
Dover Street Gallery, London (1992).
Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos.
Private collection Northern Germany (acquired from the above in 1994).

EXHIBITION: 20th Anniversary Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Art, August 1955.

LITERATURE: Sotheby's, London, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture (part II.), June 23, 1993, lot 274 (color illu.).

"The good van de Velde wrote to me today saying that I should return to modern life. That is out of question for me. And I have no regrets. I have found a rich field for my work here that I could hardly manage it in good health [..]. You learn to look and explore deeper than in so-called 'modern' life, which, despite its rich outer form, is so much more shallow."
E. L. Kirchner in a letter to Helene Spengler, July 3, 1919.