Spiritisme Possibly 1923 - 1924

Erich Wichmann made this piece, Spiritisme, with graphite on paper. There's a ghostliness to the application of graphite in this drawing. The marks are smudgy, soft, and suggestive rather than definitive. It’s not about clean lines or sharp details. Instead, it's about atmosphere. The forms emerge tentatively as if coaxed out of the shadows. The title “Spiritisme” tells us that this is, perhaps, exactly the point! Look at the way the figure seems to dissolve into the shadowy background. Wichmann captures a sense of otherworldly presence and the boundary between the seen and unseen. See how the tonal variations in the graphite create depth and volume, giving the figures a tangible, almost sculptural quality. It makes me think of other artists who explore the subconscious, like Odilon Redon, where the image serves as a portal to another dimension. Ultimately, “Spiritisme” is a reminder that art is as much about what we can’t see as what we can.