Woman is Walking over a Nighty Street 1929

Editor: This is Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s "Woman is Walking over a Nighty Street," painted in 1929. It's a riot of color. The composition is, shall we say, busy, but my eye is mostly drawn to the strong lines and how they direct my gaze. How do you read this work? Curator: Indeed. If we put aside considerations of the 'cityscape' theme for the moment, what is striking is the insistent foregrounding of the painted surface. See how the linear elements do not describe forms naturalistically. Editor: So it's less about the what and more about the how? Curator: Precisely. Notice how the artist uses a vibrant color palette in a deliberately non-naturalistic manner. The overall flattening of space and form directs the viewer's attention to the artifice of the painted medium, and how the paint itself acts as a field of visual interest, where depth and form emerge but not realistically. It has structural affinities with cubism, but not cubist fracturing, does it? Editor: I see what you mean, the flatness does jump out now that you mention it! Almost like stage sets stacked on top of each other, which in a way it sort of is. The shapes don’t look exactly like shapes, but suggestions. Curator: Yes, consider the tension the artist establishes by creating recognizable form using what are clearly non-mimetic strategies. Line, color and the application of the medium combine to represent form and, more importantly, express the artificiality and conventions involved in creating it. A deliberate engagement with surface rather than space. Editor: So it's about the raw elements of painting, almost a self-aware picture, but is the location relevant at all? I had assumed it was very important, as Expressionism always looks outward. Curator: I suggest those questions are a separate inquiry, and not central to appreciating the visual and structural strategies at play here. Editor: That's a very helpful perspective. Thank you! Curator: My pleasure. Focus on what it is, before considering what it represents, and you will never be led astray.