Weidende Schafe (Grazing Sheep)

Corinth employed drypoint, scratching directly into a metal plate to create lines that hold ink and produce a soft, fuzzy edge when printed. The resulting texture is immediate and tactile, echoing the spontaneity of a sketch. His brushwork-like lines convey movement and form with economy, balancing control with a sense of haste that lends the image its intimate, observational quality.

Created during World War I, the print emerged from a period of personal and artistic transformation for Corinth.

Created during World War I, the print emerged from a period of personal and artistic transformation for Corinth. After his 1911 stroke, he increasingly turned to intimate subjects and experimental printmaking. *Weidende Schafe* belongs to a series of landscapes and animal studies from this time, made in his studio in Berlin and later circulated among collectors and fellow artists in the German art world.

Corinth had been associated with the Berlin Secession, a group challenging academic norms, and by 1916 was moving beyond Impressionist influences toward Expressionism. While many contemporaries focused on urban tension or psychological turmoil, this work reflects a retreat into quiet, natural motifs—perhaps a response to wartime anxiety or a personal search for calm amid upheaval.

Though less celebrated than his portraits or biblical scenes, *Weidende Schafe* exemplifies Corinth’s mastery of printmaking and his ability to convey emotion through restraint. It remains a key example of how German artists used intimate subjects to explore inner states during a turbulent era, influencing later generations interested in the expressive potential of line and texture.