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On light chamois Japan. One of 11 prints by the artist known to date. Signed and dated lower right, inscribed ‘Eigendruck’ and ‘K 5.’ lower left. 47.7 x 38.5 on 52.5 x 42.5 cm.
Earlier catalogues raisonnés: Schiefler H 365. There the description by Kirchner and Schiefler:
‘The large head of a shepherd boy (from the side, to the right, but the left eye is visible over the nose). Large hat, the brim of which is folded downwards at the front and upwards at the back. A rosette of upturned feathers is attached to the front of the hatband. Round eyes, upturned nose, upturned lips. A short strand of hair hanging down between the eye and ear. The neck rises from a folding collar outlined with multiple light-coloured lines. The figures of standing and grazing goats are grouped around the head. In the upper left corner, overlapped by the hat, a standing cow.’
Further examples in the following collections: Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Davos, Kirchner Museum; Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle; Mönchengladbach, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg; New York, The Museum of Modern Art;
Comment: A woodcut from the group that Kirchner created in the summer of 1918 during his second summer in Stapelalp. It depicts Peter Biäsch, a goatherd on the Stafelalp in the summer of 1918, who later worked as a farmer on part of the Junkerboden.
