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On firm imitation Japan. One of 4 prints by the artist known to date. Signed lower right and inscribed ‘Eigendruck’ lower left and titled ‘Kopf Arp’ lower centre.
Further copies in the following collections: Museum of Modern Art New York: Museum of Art Philadelphia; Centre Georges Pompidou Paris.
Kirchner, who had greatly enjoyed works by Hans Arp (1886-1966) at an exhibition in Zurich in 1929, wrote to Andreas Walser on 4 February 1930 that Arp had visited him in Davos the day before. Nothing is known of an earlier meeting, so perhaps the dating of this woodcut also needs to be reconsidered. Arp’s works in the Zurich exhibition must have confirmed Kirchner on his path to his New Style, which he had been pursuing for several years, and his string reliefs and configurations of the years 1925-28 seem to have flowed directly into Arp’s portrait in the truest sense of the word. It also seems as if Kirchner had seen the famous portrait photo of Arp from 1922, ‘Navel-Monocle’, if you look at the dark ring around Arp’s right eye.
