Women at a Table in a Room (recto) / Nude Woman (verso)

The graphite drawing on the verso relies on direct hand shading, highlighting Kirchner’s versatility across media.

Kirchner employed a combination of etching, dry‑point and surface etching on the recto, allowing him to produce both fine linear marks and deeper, burr‑rich lines that stand out when inked. The dry‑point scratches create a characteristic velvety darkness, while the surface etching adds texture. The graphite drawing on the verso relies on direct hand shading, highlighting Kirchner’s versatility across media.

Created shortly after Kirchner’s return to Germany following World War I, the print reflects his mature expressionist phase. In the 1930s the work fell under Nazi condemnation; in 1937 more than six hundred of Kirchner’s pieces were either confiscated, sold under duress, or destroyed as “degenerate art.” The surviving sheets later entered museum collections through post‑war acquisitions.

Kirchner was a founding member of Die Brücke, a group that sought to break with academic conventions and promote a raw, emotive visual language. By 1920 his practice had shifted from painting to printmaking, using the medium to explore everyday scenes with heightened psychological tension. The dual‑image format reflects the period’s experimental approach to print media within the broader expressionist movement.