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Collections

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Dancer with Necklace1910

On view:
Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3
Carved wood sculpture of a standing nude female figure, viewed from behind, with rough tool-marked pale wood surfaces and a dark bark-covered mass at the top and base
Carved wooden figure of a standing nude, shown in three-quarter view, with one hand raised near the shoulder; rough-hewn tool marks visible across the pale, polychromed surface; large angular dark grey block replaces the head; mounted on a circular base.
Carved and painted wood sculpture of a standing female figure in three-quarter view, with rough-hewn faceted surfaces in pale cream and warm brown tones, set on a circular wooden base; the hair rendered in dark paint with metallic accents.
Carved wood figure of a standing nude female form on a round base, with rough-hewn faceted surfaces retaining traces of pale pigment, and darkened wood at the crown and base.
Carved wood sculpture of a standing female figure viewed from the back, with a roughly hewn dark mass atop the head and a weathered, pale natural wood torso showing visible chisel marks and layered grain.
Artist or Maker
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Germany, also active Switzerland 1880-1938
Title
Dancer with Necklace
Place Made
Germany
Date Made
1910
Medium
Painted wood
Dimensions
21 3/8 x 6 x 5 1/2 in. (54.2925 x 15.24 x 13.97 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Robert Halff Endowment Fund, Modern and Contemporary Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, Modern Art Acquisition Fund, Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation, Modern Art Deaccession Fund, and LACMA's 50th Anniversary Gala, in honor of Stephanie Barron, the museum's Senior Curator of Modern Art ​
Accession Number
M.2015.40
Classification
Sculpture
Collecting Area
Modern Art
Curatorial Notes

Although Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is best known for his paintings and prints, he and his fellow Die Brücke (The Bridge) artists also carved in wood, influenced partly by non-Western art. These rough-hewn sculptures were a particular target of the Nazis in their attack on modern art as “degenerate.” Dancer with Necklace, Kirchner’s first free-standing nude sculpture, was believed to have been lost or destroyed, and was identified in 1982 through images of his Dresden studio. The model is likely his girlfriend, Doris “Dodo” Grosse, identifiable partly through her distinctive hairdo; she is also seen in the nearby painting Two Women.


Wall label, 2021.

Provenance
The artist (1880-1938); sold in 1914 to Private Collection, Germany and US [1]; by inheritance to Private Collection, USA, probably until 1950; given to Irma (d. 2012) and Donald (1933-2004) Daiter, Jenkinstown, Pennsylvania, until 2012; by inheritance to their children, Stephen Daiter, Karen Daiter and Eric Daiter; given and sold in 2014 to LACMA.
Selected Bibliography
  • Gifts on the Occasion of LACMA's 50th Anniversary. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2015.
  • Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.