Kunsthalle Mannheim / Cem Yücetas
)nicht ausgestellt
Intro
Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s female figure—the first large-format figure of a woman in his work—is naked except for a cloth which covers her legs. With her head leant slightly to the side, she radiates a devout peace, appearing introverted and somewhat melancholy. The naked body remains self-contained, with Lehmbruck merely implying the act of reaching for the slipped cloth, focusing instead on the figure’s statuesque qualities.
Nevertheless, with its smooth, harmonious curves, the female nude possesses a tangible sensuality. Lehmbruck remained faithful throughout his life to the depiction of deep emotionality, which is also evident in this major work. Together with the characteristic elongation of his later figures, this bare emotionality gave sculptural articulation to his Expressionist image of man. »The Tall Standing Woman« marks the transition from Lehmbruck’s early work to his mature period.
Kunsthalle Mannheim
Transkription
The woman averts her gaze. Her head is inclined slightly to the left, she is looking downwards to the side. We cannot catch her eye. Her sagging shoulders make her appear sad, melancholic. Is this young woman ashamed? Perhaps of her nudity? Or of being watched by us?
Clothed only in a bit of drapery, Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s female figure is standing in front of us. And even the cloth merely covers her legs from the thighs down to her ankles. She appears to grip at the fabric as if she were trying to keep it from falling down.
She might, however, intentionally assume this posture. Perhaps she is deliberately letting the cloth glide downwards, thereby presenting the harmonious, regular lines of her body in a tempting, sensuous manner. At the same time, she appears not at all lascivious or provocative. She is simply standing there, clad in her nudity. Immovable, with downcast eyes. Perhaps a bit shy.
This interplay of sensuousness and melancholy characterizes Lehmbruck‘s sculpture. As the artist emphasizes the statuary character of his figure it radiates a solemn calm. Simultaneously, it is very expressive. The lack of expansive movement and the cloth around her legs imbue the figure with an air of strong self-containment. This underlines the combination of those two central motifs – sensuousness and melancholy. In this manner, Lehmbruck imparts his sculpture with an expression of deep emotion.
This expression of emotions remains a constant throughout the entire work of the German sculptor, as does the use of stone casting technique. In his entire oeuvre, the sculpture in front of us represents the transition from his early works to the main oeuvre. While the „Tall Standing Woman“ still represents a realistic depiction of the human figure, Lehmbruck later increased his figures’ expressiveness through a startling elongation of the bodies, in particular their limbs. In this way, he pursued his aim as a pioneer of Expressionist sculpture: not to give a naturalistic representation, but rather depicting a person’s emotional state.
