Portrait of a Woman (verso) Germany, 20th century

Portrait of a Woman (verso)

ca. 1914–1915

Ludwig Meidner

(German, 1884–1966)

Germany, 20th century

pen and black ink over black chalk

Support: Cream(2) wove paper

Watermarks:

Sheet: 80.6 x 50.8 cm (31 3/4 x 20 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1982.14.b

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Description

Ludwig Meidner was not formally associated with an Expressionist group, but this scene of explosive light above a deserted street encapsulates the urban anxiety conveyed in the work of many of his contemporaries. The striking patterns of black and white drawn in ink are reminiscent of the cut surfaces of a woodcut. The back (verso) of the drawing features a lively portrait of a young woman. The artist once advised that in making a portrait one should “dig like a mole down into the mysterious deep of the pupils and into the white of the eye and don’t let your pen stop until the soul of that one opposite you is welded to yours in a covenant of pathos.”