Female Nude

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

1908

ink

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Early Modern Nude

About this work

This picture shows a black-and-white woodcut of a woman lying down. Her body is twisted, with one arm bent behind her head and the other stretched out. The background has jagged lines that look like light or shadows, and the edges of her body are rough and uneven. The artist used a simple black-and-white contrast to make the shapes stand out. The paper looks rough, almost like it was printed on blotting paper. Check out woodcut to see how this printmaking technique works.