
Hand and Head
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Self-Portrait as Soldier
Peter Springer(Author)
University of California Press
1st Edition
Published on 1. May 2002
Book
Hardback
186 pages
978-0-520-21626-6 (ISBN)
Description
Expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "Self-Portrait as Soldier" (1915) is one of the best-known self-portraits of the modern classical period. With its sharp foreground focus on the uniformed artist's bloody amputated hand, the painting has long been interpreted as a vehement protest against war, specifically World War I and Kirchner's participation in it. Peter Springer's innovative study presents a convincing alternative reading of Kirchner's epochal work. Springer sees in it, not a harsh condemnation of militarism, but a marked ambivalence in the artist's attitude toward war. This new reading of the painting grows out of Springer's assessment of its imagery in relation to patronage, gender relations, and national identity - and particularly to propaganda and satire. Using Kirchner's letters and other documentation, much of it only recently available, Springer reconstructs the years of Kirchner's military service. He juxtaposes a range of visual contexts that include traditions of self-portraiture, depictions of prosthetic devices, and propaganda accounts of German soldiers hacking off the hands of Belgian and French children.
He then considers Kirchner in relation to Albrecht Durer and to theoretical arguments on the relative dominance of hand and mind in the pictorial arts that invoke the image of "Raphael without hands." Nearly 100 illustrations superbly complement the text.
He then considers Kirchner in relation to Albrecht Durer and to theoretical arguments on the relative dominance of hand and mind in the pictorial arts that invoke the image of "Raphael without hands." Nearly 100 illustrations superbly complement the text.
More details
Series
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
8 color plates, 90 b-w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
771 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-21626-6 (9780520216266)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Peter Springer is Professor of Art History at Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany. Susan Ray is Associate Professor of German at Fordham University.
Content
Preface A Look at One's Self Self-Portrait as Soldier: Description and History Critical Interpretations of the Painting The Context: Kirchner's Time as a Soldier Other Works, 1915 1917 War Enthusiasm versus a Desire to Dodge "The Artist as Exemplary Sufferer" The Motif of the Mutilated Hand Beyond Surgery The Propaganda Iconography of the Severed Hand The Artist's Missing Hand Kirchner as a Follower of Durer Raphael without Hands Epilogue Notes Selected Bibliography Illustration Credits Index