Artwork
Hausecke (Corner of a House)
Hausecke (Corner of a House) is an ink print by Lovis Corinth. It dates from 1918 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1918, *Hausecke (Corner of a House)* is a black dry‑point print on laid paper by German artist Lovis Corinth. The work presents a modest architectural fragment—a house corner framed by a bare tree and uneven ground—rendered with the stark, textured lines characteristic of Corinth’s later, more expressive period.
Subject & Meaning
The image isolates a simple corner of a dwelling, its rough walls and gnarled tree suggesting a quiet, perhaps neglected domestic space. By focusing on ordinary architecture and the surrounding vegetation, the print invites contemplation of everyday structures, while the irregular, almost frantic line work conveys a heightened emotional response to the scene.
Technique & Style
Corinth employed dry‑point, incising lines directly into a metal plate with a sharp needle. This method leaves a burr that produces a characteristic fuzzy, grainy edge when printed, giving the composition a tactile, gritty surface. The handling of line is loose and uneven, reflecting the artist’s post‑stroke shift toward expressionist vigor and a departure from his earlier naturalistic precision.
History & Provenance
Lovis Corinth, trained in Paris and Munich and later president of the Berlin Secession, produced the print after a 1911 stroke that altered his artistic direction. Though the work was made toward the end of World War I, it remained within his personal estate before entering public collections in the mid‑20th century, where it has been exhibited as part of his printmaking oeuvre.
Context
*Hausecke* belongs to a period when Corinth merged impressionistic observation with expressionist intensity, a synthesis evident across his paintings and prints of the 1910s. The choice of a domestic corner aligns with contemporary interests in everyday subjects, while the stark monochrome palette reflects the broader move among German artists toward more austere, emotionally charged visual language during the war years.
Artist & collection
Artist
Lovis Corinth was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism.
Obstgarten (Orchard)
Tiergarten (Zoological Garden)
Obstgarten im Herbst (Fruit Garden in Autumn)
Bäume mit Sonne (Trees in the Sun)
Weidende Schafe (Grazing Sheep)
Der Neue See (The New Lake)
Birkenstämme im Tiergarten (Birch Trees in the Tiergarten)
Brücke mit Tafel (Bridge with Sign)
Der Tiergarten: Trees with Sun
Am see (On a Lake)
Walchensee landschaft (Walchensee Landscape)
Guardhouse (La maison du garde)