Two cows c. 1920

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this drawing of two cows with what looks like charcoal; you can almost feel the powdery texture on the page. The lines are immediate and searching, like he’s trying to capture the cow-ness of these creatures, not just their shapes, but their weight and the way they move. I'm drawn to the head of the cow in the foreground. There's a real energy in those marks, a kind of fierce tenderness. The teeth are almost human, and the way the lines cross and overlap gives it a sense of volume, like you could reach out and touch the rough texture of its snout. It feels like Kirchner isn't just drawing what he sees, but what he feels. This piece reminds me of some drawings by Paula Modersohn-Becker, both artists sharing an interest in rural subjects and a similar approach to raw, expressive mark-making. Kirchner invites us to engage with the process of seeing and feeling, valuing the exploration of emotion and experience over definitive representation.