Stehende Dame im Abendkleid 1918

Here is 'Standing Lady in Evening Dress' by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, made with charcoal and coloured crayon. Look at the smudgy marks, the blues and blacks blending to build the dress and the lady's form. I can almost see Kirchner, right up close, moving around the paper, his hand flying. The dress swallows her whole, like it’s devouring her figure. What was he thinking as he drew this? Was he trying to capture a sense of the modern woman, confident but maybe a little lost in the city’s chaos? The texture isn’t smooth or blended; it's raw, immediate. A single stroke defines the outline of the dress, confident and quick. It reminds me of other artists who use line to create form, like Matisse or even some of the older masters, but Kirchner gives it his own anxious spin. It shows how artists build on what's come before, but also totally mess it up and make something new. That's what keeps art alive, right?