Schlafender weiblicher Akt. 1910.
Woodcut.
Ebner/Gabelmann 411 H. Dube H 189. Signed, dated "10" and with a differently titled. One of only 12 copies mentioned in the catalogue raisonné. On wove paper. 26.3 x 33.5 cm (10.3 x 13.1 in). Sheet: 38,8 x 57,5 cm (15,2 x 22,6 in).
Presumbaly later print. Other later prints are at the Folkwang-Museum Essen, the Brücke-Museum Berlin and the Kupferstichkabinett, State Museums Berlin.
• Motif from the sought-after Dresden "Brücke" time.
• In 1910, Heckel met his future wife, the dancer Milda Frieda Georgi (1891–1982), who performed under the stage name Sidi Riha.
• A contemporary photograph from around 1910/11 shows Siddi with the black model Nelly in Heckel's Dresden studio, rehearsing a dance together.
• Nelly and the black models Milly and Sam can be seen in several photographs, prints, drawings and paintings by Erich Heckel and E. L. Kirchner (EL Kirchner, Schlafende Milli, 1911, Kunsthalle Bremen).
• Little is known about Nelly, Milly and Sam and generally about the life of black people around 1910 in the German Empire.
• In 2021/22, the Berlin Brücke-Museum put focus on the art of the "Brücke" in context of the colonization of the time and the fascination of the artists with the art and culture from Africa and the South Seas.

PROVENANCE: Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
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: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p.185, SHG no. 215 (with illu., p. 184).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 302, SHG no. 394 (with illu.).