Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

If this was more of a true short biography of a great early 20th-century German painter, then it would have been much better. I view this series from Hirmer publishing as a way to get people into artists they might not know without having to buy an expensive catalog. What could have worked as an excellent introduction to the German Expressionists instead turns into an essay that feels lost and out of place. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was one of the best German Expressionists in the early 20th century. Scarred by World War I, which he never recovered from, he would go on to paint images that sear the mind. Sadly, he had issues to deal with and eventually settled in Davos, Switzerland, where he would live the rest of his days until committing suicide in 1938 as the Nazi party grew in power.

This book felt more like an essay you would find in a large museum catalog; it does not work on its own. The author rarely talks about Kirchner’s life, unless it has to do with a specific painting, but instead focuses on the impact he had and the periods he went through. It just feels out of place.