Grazing cow c. 1918

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this drawing of a grazing cow at some unknown time, and with what looks like graphite on paper. There's a real fluidity to the marks he's made here. Look at the quick, scratchy lines he uses to define the cow’s form, and how they almost seem to vibrate on the page. It's not about precision, but about capturing a sense of movement and life. I’m drawn to the way the cow's head is rendered; it’s almost like a collection of abstract shapes that somehow coalesce into a recognizable form. You can almost feel the pressure of the graphite on the page. It reminds me a little bit of Picasso's sketches, where line becomes a way of thinking through form rather than just representing it. There’s this lovely ambiguity, as if the cow is simultaneously present and dissolving into the landscape. It's not about perfection, it’s about the raw energy of the mark.