Zwei ruhende Akte c. 1908

Adolf Hölzel made “Zwei ruhende Akte”, or “Two Resting Nudes”, with oil on canvas, and what I notice first are the expressive brushstrokes and the color choices—that acid green background, the ochre skin tones, and then these reds and browns in the foreground... I can imagine Hölzel in his studio, working and reworking the composition. Paint application looks thick in some parts, and I can see how he built up the forms through layers, adjustments, corrections. There’s a physicality to the painting process, a give-and-take between intention and accident. Look at the way the bodies are arranged; their limbs and torsos create dynamic angles against the patterned rug. It reminds me of the German Expressionists, Kirchner and Heckel, or even Matisse. Ultimately, each artist learns from one another.