Erich Heckel Biography
Erich Heckel (Döbeln, 31 July 1883 – Radolfzell am Bodensee, 27 January 1970) was a German painter and printmaker. Attracted by modern artistic theories, in 1904 he began studying architecture in Dresden, where he became familiar with the thoughts of anti-bourgeois authors, in particular Nietzsche and Dostoevsky. During his student years he became friends with Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Fritz Bleyl, with whom in 1905 he founded the artistic group Die Brücke (The Bridge), so called because it tried to create a bridge between the two souls of German painting of the time: the traditional neo-romantic one and the modern expressionist one. The group drew its main inspiration from Edvard Munch and some post-impressionists, such as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin; particular attention was also paid to African art, which pushed them towards wood carving. Woodcut and printing were also widely used by them, seen as a cheap and quick means of producing artistic pieces in large quantities and at prices accessible to many. In particular, Heckel's style of these years is characterized as highly emotional, obtained by means of aggressive and broken lines and bright colors, laid out flatly and vigorously. Like the other members of the group, Heckel also sought inspiration in nature: for this reason he spent the summers between 1907 and 1910 on the North Sea coast and on the lakes of Saxony, often in the company of his friends Kirchner and Max Pechstein. In 1911 Heckel, increasingly interested in formal pictorial composition, moved to Berlin, but had difficulty adapting to the new city. The colors used are more subdued and his paintings become less intense and more melancholic, in a certain sense more introspective, in which the main theme is often illness. He then began to travel around Germany, meeting artists such as Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Lyonel Feininger and August Macke; he also met James Ensor, who was then living in Ostend. During the First World War Heckel served in the medical corps, remaining deeply disturbed by the atrocities of the conflict; almost all the illustrations from those years recall these painful experiences. After the First World War he traveled around Europe, returning to seek inspiration in nature, as untouched by civilization as possible. In particular, he was fascinated by the Black Forest and the Alps around Lake Constance. The severity and monumentality of the mountains then entered his landscapes: the anguished atmosphere of the paintings of the expressionist years gradually dissolves into a more relaxed painting, with increasingly pastel colours. With the advent of Nazism, Heckel was considered a degenerate artist: he was forbidden to exhibit in public and his works in German museums were confiscated; in these years a notable part of his work was destroyed.
