Tiergarten (Zoological Garden) 1922

Lovis Corinth scratched this plate to make 'Tiergarten (Zoological Garden)'; the process itself feels present. I think of him there, pushing and pulling at the copper or zinc, watching the lines emerge in front of him. There’s a starkness to this print, a simplicity that lets the landscape speak. The monochromatic palette is softened by the hazy washes of tone and the white of the paper. What looks like a copse of trees is rendered with quick, dark strokes; and the ground shifts from solid to soft. In the foreground, long grasses lean and curve, like they're dancing in the wind. Corinth's lines feel intuitive, responsive. He doesn’t seem to be trying to capture an exact view, more of a feeling of a place. I think about other German Expressionists like Emil Nolde and Kathe Kollwitz. They were each trying to make something new out of the world around them. With this work, Corinth is speaking to them and to us.