Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive

Numerous international exhibitions on Kirchner and Expressionism have been developed with the help of the archive since the 1980s. It offers not only an overview of the entire oeuvre but also the highest possible number of good and, above all, color illustrations. It is only through this that the significance of a work otherwise known only through a small-format black and white illustration can often be grasped and this can be borrowed as a good alternative to a desired work that may not be available.

The Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive in Wichtrach is in constant cooperation with the archive of the Kirchner Museum Davos.

Time-consuming but necessary work is done by the archive in connection with exhibitions: The research of locations and the mediation of loan requests to private collectors, which are forwarded with an accompanying letter. The selection of exhibits, however, is always decided by the exhibiting institute. Only upon request does the archive mediate or make alternative suggestions in the case of cancellations.

In order to divide up the work and to avoid too much competition between individual exhibitions with regard to loans, the archive keeps a constantly updated list of all planned exhibitions on Kirchner and Expressionism in order to be able to advise public institutes accordingly.

Pinakothek der Modern art, exhibition "Farbenmensch Kirchner" , 2014
(Photo: Jens Weber, bfgest.de)

In principle, what has just been said for the exhibitions also applies to the publications on Kirchner and Expressionism. For these, too, the overall view of the oeuvre is of high importance, so that the same works are not illustrated and described over and over again. This is because the most important works are often found in collections that are difficult to access and are therefore hardly known even today.

The dossiers on the individual works by Kirchner in the documentation also provide the complete bibliographical details of each work, and the respective books or essays are located in the same room in the library. This means an enormous simplification of work for everyone working in the archive. For organizational reasons, however, this possibility can only be given to a few scholars. (So far the principle "from dissertation upwards" has been established.) As with regard to exhibitions the mediation of the works, so with regard to publications the archive has the task of mediating photo templates from the owners of the works. The archive can provide its own photos only to a limited extent, namely only in relation to the holdings of the gallery and partly of the estate. The photo archive Bolliger-Ketterer, which is kept here, provides good prints of the photos that Kirchner himself took. In the meantime, the Kirchner Museum Davos also provides these - partly in better quality - namely of the photographs of which the negatives are preserved there.

Exemplary the publication Unzertrennlich. Frames and Pictures of the Brücke Artists, ed. by Werner Murrer, Lisa Marei Schmidt & Daniel J. Schreiber, Koenig Books London, 2020.

Inseparable. Frames and pictures of the Brücke artists

The reason for setting up the documentation of the complete works in its present form was a sudden uncertainty regarding the assessment of authenticity questions around 1980. It became apparent at that time that the clarification of the pending authenticity questions was simply no longer possible with the help of memory alone, no matter how intensive the knowledge of the work. It was necessary to have the largest possible number of constantly available comparative examples, i.e. as many sorted illustrations as possible. Thus, first of all, a documentation was created, especially of the uncatalogued drawings, pastels and watercolors. This eventually led to the archive of the complete works, with the task of incorporating all the information that emerged about each work.

Since then, questions of authenticity have been dealt with with the help of all available comparative examples and other information. In cases of doubt, in cooperation with other Kirchner experts. The archive does not only work on questions of authenticity upon request, but also takes active action in cases of suspicion. The latter, of course, has not only won the archive friends, as in general the strictly enforced principle: "In case of doubt against the accused" (because here we are dealing with things not people). Photo certificates are issued only after presentation of the original work in the archive - for at least one week.

Inquirers will be sent information about this. Comprehensive information will be provided without presentation of the original in cases that are beyond doubt. Inquirers must send all information in writing and send the work in question to the Archives, do not bring, telephone and personal conversations should be limited to the absolute minimum to avoid misunderstandings. Conversely, it is imperative and self-evident that, in this respect, the archive activity is separate from the gallery activity, which, after all, is also responsible for the estate in terms of trade. In other words, a work whose authenticity is or was under discussion is taboo for the gallery.

This strategy has had the effect that - in contrast to many other artists of his generation and also of the other Expressionists (not to mention some modern artists of the non-German-speaking world) - the authenticity issues with Kirchner can be regarded as certain, according to human judgement.

Of course, the Kirchner forgeries and false attributions are also archived, organized by subject.

Signed drawing by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner