drawing, coloured-pencil, print, ink
drawing
coloured-pencil
narrative-art
figuration
ink
coloured pencil
expressionism
Dimensions 15 1/4 x 12 1/4 in. (38.74 x 31.12 cm) (plate)20 13/16 × 14 7/8 in. (52.86 × 37.78 cm) (sheet)
Max Pechstein made this print, *Die erste Hilfe*, which translates as *First Aid*, with etching, drypoint, and aquatint. It's mostly black lines, but there are hints of pink and red in there too. You can almost feel Pechstein working on the plate, scratching and biting, trying to get the feeling just right. It feels Expressionistic, a bit like Käthe Kollwitz but with a rawness of Kirchner. It shows one soldier helping another, and you wonder what Pechstein was thinking when he made it, back in 1918. What did "First Aid" really mean at the time? The lines are simple and direct, but they’re full of emotion. Look at the way the figures are drawn, with these dark outlines and minimal shading – it's like he's stripping away everything that's unnecessary to get to the heart of the matter. It’s all about getting the feeling of the thing, not just the look. These artists, they’re all talking to each other across time, responding to what came before and inspiring what comes next. And in the end, painting isn’t just about what you see, it’s about what you feel, what you imagine.
Comments
Max Pechstein was a leading German expressionist painter and printmaker and member of the avant-garde artist association Die Brucke. This poignant portrayal of a mortally wounded soldier is based on his own experiences and memories serving as a soldier in the German army during the First World War (1914-18). The print, a rare hand-colored proof outside of the regular edition, was published as part of a series of dramatic scenes of modern warfare that comprised Pechstein's Somme 1916 portfolio. The Somme, a region in northern France, was the site of a series of battles in the summer and fall of 1916 between allied British and French armies and entrenched German forces. The conflict soon devolved into a war of attrition that ultimately claimed more than 850,000 lives. As a consequence, the Somme has become a symbol of the utter senselessness of war.
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