Live Auction 7712Old Master, Modern & Contemporary Prints
Erich Heckel (1883-1970)
Lot 82

Erich Heckel (1883-1970)

Mann in der Ebene (Dube H 305 II)

Closed8 April 2009

Price Realised

GBP 5,625

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Erich Heckel (1883-1970)
Mann in der Ebene (Dube H 305 II)
woodcut, 1917, on wove, signed, dated and titled in pencil, a very good impression from the edition of forty, printed by Voigt, with his signature, published in the portfolio Elf Holzschnitte, 1912-1919 by J. B. Neumann, Berlin, 1921, probably the full sheet, a deckle edge above, some pale light-staining, some very unobtrusive pinpoint foxmarks, a few short tears at the upper sheet edge, otherwise in good condition, framed
B. 376 x 270 mm., S. 615 x 509 mm.

Specialist note

Erich Heckel created this woodcut in 1917 while serving in Flanders as a medical orderly. The lonely figure, clearly a self-portrait, standing in a barren landscape under a sky torn by mortar fire is an emblematic image for the despair and existential angst felt by those who experienced the slaughter and destruction of World War I. This woodcut is also a precursor to one of the most iconic images of German Expressionism, Heckel's colour woodcut Männerbildnis (D. 318) of 1919.