Portrait

The composition by Alexander Kanoldt shows a young woman's head with an elongated, so-called horse face. It is the second version of the portrait of an unknown person. The woman is looking into the distance with a melancholy gaze as if she recalled something that has already passed, which she vainly longs for. Her facial features have been rendered very sparingly, with a clear, delicately shaded line. Large, deep-set eyes, regular arched eyebrows, a strong, long and humpbacked nose, small and convex lips and protruding zygomatic bones precisely convey the individuality of the portrayed person. The tomboy hairstyle corresponds to the women's fashion, popular among young women with independent characters. The lack of background gives the drawing the character of a study, but the form is very refined. The composition with equal accuracy treating both the physical side of the model and her psyche belongs to the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement. However, the decorative curls of curled hair at the bottom, drawn with flowing, fanciful lines, are a reminiscence of the Art Nouveau style.The graphic was made in 1927 using crayon lithography and printed on thin Japanese paper. The pencil signature confirms the artist's participation in making the print and informs that it is the 32nd work from that year.Alexander Kanoldt was born in 1881 in Karlsruhe and died in 1939 in Berlin. He studied at the Karlsruhe School of Art. He initially settled in Munich, where he belonged to the Expressionists. In 1913, he joined the Münchener Neue Secession (New Munich Secession). After the First World War, his stay in Italy brought the evolution of his style towards New Objectivity, which developed during the interwar period. From 1925, he worked as a pedagogue in Breslau and then in Berlin.

Ewa Gwiazdowska