comments are closed on this review, click here for worldwidereview home
From: jwang
Category: Exhibitions
Date: 26 August 2003
demented sharp people, pointed beaky faces, draped in long robe-like clothing (and that was only the viewers crowded in the 3 long rooms at the top of the academy).
kirchner's expressionist paintings feel quite modern - a painting of a young girl in a black and yellow striped dress looked more as if it were from the 1960's than the 1910's. i have to admit that i'm not fond of kirchner - his colours feel murky, i can feel the oils slipping into each other as he drags his brushes over and over to mark a face. the bodies are elongated, produced from the idea of a body rather than depicted, and all limbs and parts come to a point - except buttocks which are exceptionally round, lovely ideas of bums. however, his pictures of prostitutes and nudes are attacked with great strength and energy, and the melancholy of his paintings of soldiers (notably the self-portrait where he depicts himself with his right hand cut off - the identity of the soldier consuming him as an artist) is palpable.
it costs seven pounds for entry, and would only really be of value if you can avoid weekends and have a quieter space to walk through rather than the murmuring throng with whom i struggled.
comments are closed on this review, click here for worldwidereview home