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Lot Essay
Membership of the artists' group Brücke was designed to be both 'active' and 'passive'. Apart from the founding members Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl, Heckel and Schmidt-Rottluff, later Pechstein, Nolde and Otto Mueller, the small group of 'active' members temporarily also included artists from further afield, such as the Swiss Cuno Amiet and the Finnish painter Akseli Gallén-Kallela. The group of 'passive' members on the other hand was to be drawn from the artist's circle of friends and patrons, with the intention of establishing a body of firm and loyal supporters. Their membership fee was to provide a regular and vital, albeit small, source of income for the artists. In return for their annual subscription of initially 12 Marks, increased in 1911 to 25 Marks, the members would receive a membership card as well as an annual report and a presentation of three or four prints. In 1906-08, the prints were by various artists, in 1909-12 the presentation consisted of three prints by one artist, contained within a paper wrapper with a woodcut title by another artist of the group.
The VI Jahresmappe of 1911 was dedicated to Erich Heckel and included the colour woodcut Stehendes Kind as well as a lithograph, Szene im Wald (D. 153) and the drypoint Strasse am Hafen (D. 91), all from 1910. The woodcut cover on blue paper was provided by Max Pechstein. The exact size of the edition is not known. However, Kirchner's four woodcut lists of the 'passive members'(D. 700-704; published 1910 in the Bücke exhibition catalogue of Galerie Arnold, Dresden), cut between 1907 and 1910 as their numbers grew, name a total of 68 supporters. It seems safe to assume that a year later, in 1911, the number of members and hence the edition of the VI. Jahresmappe would not have greatly exceeded a total of seventy.
The VI Jahresmappe of 1911 was dedicated to Erich Heckel and included the colour woodcut Stehendes Kind as well as a lithograph, Szene im Wald (D. 153) and the drypoint Strasse am Hafen (D. 91), all from 1910. The woodcut cover on blue paper was provided by Max Pechstein. The exact size of the edition is not known. However, Kirchner's four woodcut lists of the 'passive members'(D. 700-704; published 1910 in the Bücke exhibition catalogue of Galerie Arnold, Dresden), cut between 1907 and 1910 as their numbers grew, name a total of 68 supporters. It seems safe to assume that a year later, in 1911, the number of members and hence the edition of the VI. Jahresmappe would not have greatly exceeded a total of seventy.