ARTISTS
I pretended to study architecture: The Unknown Kirchner
"Then went to Munich, where I pretended to study architecture, as in Dresden, because my parents were against painting." This is how Kirchner described his professional training in a letter to Botho Graef in 1916. A short sentence in an otherwise extensive description of his career and the influences that made him an avant-garde painter. For Kirchner, it seems, the study of architecture was little more than a necessary imposition, that left no great mark on his development. Many of his architectural drawings from the years of his studies and his diploma thesis have survived to this day. The exhibition aims to bring this unknown side of the painter into focus and highlight Kirchner's architectural vision using his designs and sketches. To this end, we are showing selected paintings that reveal the extent to which architectural knowledge accompanied him in his compositions throughout his life.
鈥淚 then went to Munich where I pretended to study architecture, just as I had in Dresden, because my parents were against painting.鈥�
The exhibition 鈥淚 pretended to study architecture鈥�: The Unknown Kirchner focuses on the painter and trained architect鈥檚 unknown side. Based on drafts and sketches from his student days, it highlights Kirchner's architectural gaze. At the same time, selected paintings and first-rate loans serve to show how his architectural expertise informed the development of his style and shaped his perspectival compositions.
When Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff joined forces to form the Br眉cke artists鈥� group on June 7, 1905, they not only shared an interest in art but also attended architecture school together. Having completed his final thesis just a month earlier, on April 30, Kirchner received his diploma with the grade 鈥済ood鈥� on July 1, qualifying him to practice as an architect. It is not a coincidence that the Br眉cke was founded between those two dates. Kirchner鈥檚 studies may be understood as a gesture of reassurance towards his middle-class parents, who wanted their artistically gifted son to pursue a legitimate profession. His parents had recognized their son鈥檚 artistic talent early on and encouraged him at a young age, even arranging for him to have private lessons in drawing and watercolor. In a letter to Will Grohmann dated July 8, 1925, Kirchner noted that he owed 鈥渕uch inspiration and technical expertise and skill鈥� to a drawing teacher from his childhood. His training as an architect was supposed to channel Kirchner's artistic talent into a middle-class career.
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"Then went to Munich, where I pretended to study architecture, as in Dresden, because my parents were against painting." This is how Kirchner described his professional training in a letter to Botho Graef in 1916. A short sentence in an otherwise extensive description of his career and the influences that made him an avant-garde painter. For Kirchner, it seems, the study of architecture was little more than a necessary imposition, that left no great mark on his development. Many of his architectural drawings from the years of his studies and his diploma thesis have survived to this day. The exhibition aims to bring this unknown side of the painter into focus and highlight Kirchner's architectural vision using his designs and sketches. To this end, we are showing selected paintings that reveal the extent to which architectural knowledge accompanied him in his compositions throughout his life.
鈥淚 then went to Munich where I pretended to study architecture, just as I had in Dresden, because my parents were against painting.鈥�
The exhibition 鈥淚 pretended to study architecture鈥�: The Unknown Kirchner focuses on the painter and trained architect鈥檚 unknown side. Based on drafts and sketches from his student days, it highlights Kirchner's architectural gaze. At the same time, selected paintings and first-rate loans serve to show how his architectural expertise informed the development of his style and shaped his perspectival compositions.
When Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff joined forces to form the Br眉cke artists鈥� group on June 7, 1905, they not only shared an interest in art but also attended architecture school together. Having completed his final thesis just a month earlier, on April 30, Kirchner received his diploma with the grade 鈥済ood鈥� on July 1, qualifying him to practice as an architect. It is not a coincidence that the Br眉cke was founded between those two dates. Kirchner鈥檚 studies may be understood as a gesture of reassurance towards his middle-class parents, who wanted their artistically gifted son to pursue a legitimate profession. His parents had recognized their son鈥檚 artistic talent early on and encouraged him at a young age, even arranging for him to have private lessons in drawing and watercolor. In a letter to Will Grohmann dated July 8, 1925, Kirchner noted that he owed 鈥渕uch inspiration and technical expertise and skill鈥� to a drawing teacher from his childhood. His training as an architect was supposed to channel Kirchner's artistic talent into a middle-class career.
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