Description

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was fascinated by the tawdry underworld of cabarets and nightclubs near where he lived in Berlin. He printed this nightclub scene from his largest lithographic stone. A high-kicking dancer is both leered at and ignored by a cadre of cigar-smoking men, one of whom, with his face toward the viewer, is Kirchner himself. The cramped space and smoky atmosphere, emphasized by the artist’s rapid, free marks, undermine the token optimism of the bubbles that surround the stage.