Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German ‘expressionist’ painter and printmaker, was born on May 6, 1880 in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. He studied architecture at the Königliche Technische Hochschule (a technical university) in Dresden. Kirchner was one of the founding members of the group ‘Die Brucke (The Bridge)’ with two of his friends, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel. They all wanted to avoid and stay away from existing creative traditions. They charted a new path, leading to fresh ideas and novel modes of artistic expression, while at the same time bridging the gap between old and new. “Marzella” is one of those revolutionary works by Ernst.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was characterized by his energetic and emotional works, differentiated by a bold use of colors, vigor and angular forms. One of Kirchner’s most famous paintings is his oil on canvas “Marzella” (1909-10). Marcella, in reality, was one of the daughters of an artist’s widow. Kirchner painted her both dressed and nude. “Marzella” shows a seated nude Marzella with an intense adult gaze with lips and fingernails painted provocatively red. Despite her childish lasciviousness and naive eroticism, Marzella was made to seem like a ‘subject’, rather than the ‘object’, of the male gaze.
“Marzella” also showed off the new technique, which the members of ‘Die Brucke’ were working on. In this technique, the artists drew at a fast pace to capture the soul of their subject in their natural pose, ensuring optimal spontaneity. Tribal artifacts and carved wood sculptures from Africa and the Pacific Islands greatly influenced Ernst’s creativity. He was fascinated by the inflated angular contours and unrealistic colours, which is perhaps most noticeable in his woodcuts and sculptures. For Ludwig, his nude and tribal art were both signs of a true desire for regeneration and renewal.
In 1911, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner settled in Berlin and founded a private art school, MIUM-Institut, together with Max Pechstein, with the aim of promoting modern teachings on painting. The adventure did not last long and ended the following year. In the year 1913, Kirchner published a book entitled “Chronik der Brücke (Chronicle of Brücke)”, which finally led to the dissolution of the group. Kirchner had his first solo exhibition at the Essen Folkwang Museum. At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for the army, but soon left and suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1917 Kirchner moved to Frauenkirch near Davos and was also made a member of the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts. In 1937, the Nazis forcibly took his resignation and declared his art “degenerate”, confiscating most of his works. The psychic trauma of these circumstances and the appearance of the disease weakened the artist. On June 15, 1938, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner committed suicide, leaving “Marzella” as a shining mark in the world of 20th century ‘expressionism’.