Selbstbildnis, zeichnend. Um 1905/06.
Black Chalks- and pencil drawing.
Lower left signed and predated "1901" by the artist. With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the hand-written registration number "B Dre / Ba 2" on the reverse. On brownish wove paper. 32.4 x 36 cm (12.7 x 14.1 in), the full sheet. [CH].

• Confident self-portrayal as a revolutionary graphic artist.
• Particularly early, probably even the earliest, self-portrait by E. L. Kirchner.
• Executed in the rapid style characteristic of the very first artistic awakening of the "Brücke".
• Art historian and Kirchner collector Karlheinz Gabler (1920-1985) described the young artist's dynamic line as a "lion’s claw".
• In 1979/1980 exhibited in the comprehensive Kirchner retrospective at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Kunsthaus Zurich.

We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerd Presler for his kind expert advice.

The work is registered in the Hermann Gerlinger Collection under the number SHG 649 a.

The work is documented in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/Bern.

PROVENANCE: Artist's estate (with the estate stamp on the reverse, Lugt 1570 b).
Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Roman Norbert Ketterer, Stuttgart (from 1954).
Ernesto Blohm Collection, Caracas (acquired from the above, presumably in 1958).
Private collection (presumably acquired from the above in 2011, Sotheby's, London, February 9, 2011).
Private collection.
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (acquired from the above in 2014: Galerie Kornfeld, June 20, 2014, with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Expresionismo en alemania, Asociacion cultural Humboldt, Fundacion Eugenio Mendoza, Caracas, November to December 1959, cat. no. 39 (with illu.).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner aus Privatbesitz. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Graphik, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Richard-Kaselowsky-Haus, September 14 - October 26, 1969, cat. no. 26 (with illu., p 14).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg, December 6 - January 25, 1969; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt a. Main, February 6 - March 29, 1970, cat. no. 85 (with illu., frontispiece).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Privatsammlung München, Galerie Günther Franke, May 5 - June 1, 1970, cat. no. 12 (with illu.).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1880-1938, Nationalgalerie Berlin (West), November 29, 1979 - January 20, 1980; Haus der Kunst, Munich, February 9 - April 13, 1980; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, April 26 - June 8, 1980; Kunsthaus Zürich, June 20 - August 10, 1980, cat. no. 7 (with illu.).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Roman Norbert Ketterer, Stuttgart, 31st auction, May 20/21, 1958, lot 456 (with illu., plate 24).
Sotheby's, London, Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale, February 9, 2011, lot 295 (with illu.).
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 261st auction, part 1, 150 ausgewählte Kunstwerke des 19. bis 20. Jahrhunderts, June 20, 2014, lot 57 (with full-page illu.).