Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait) [recto] / Untitled, c. 1909 [verso]

Ludwig Meidner

1912

On View in Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 3

Ludwig Meidner was a German Expressionist painter who practiced a style of art focused on communicating the inner life of an individual rather than reproducing that which is visible. In this self-portrait themes of modern urban life and artistic subjectivity are dynamically intertwined. Rather than attempting to create a realistic representation of himself and his surroundings, Meidner strove to integrate his experiences of the multitude of sensual impressions of life in the turbulent environment of Berlin on the eve of World War I. His distorted visage and eerie grin, coupled with bold, sweeping brushstrokes, articulate the psychic state of the modern artist as one penetrated by anxiety and agitation. On the back of this canvas is an earlier composition that Meidner painted of his bedroom around 1909.The cramped space and simple furniture a bed, a table and chairs, a lamp, and some books suggest the humble existence of the then impoverished artist. The painting has recently been conserved and reframed so that both sides are visible. [Permanent collection label, 2019]

Artist Ludwig Meidner (German, 1884–1966)
Title Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait) [recto] / Untitled, c. 1909 [verso]
Date 1912
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions unframed | 31 3/4 x 23 11/16 in.
Credit line Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sydney M. Shoenberg, Jr., 1963
Object number WU 4158

Technique oil painting
Work type painting
Theme Emotions and Affect

Currently on View Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 3

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

Affinity of Form: African and Modern European Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/27/1999 - 10/24/1999

A Gallery of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/09/1994 - 10/16/1994

The Art of the Portrait
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/20/1982 - 01/09/1982

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

German and Austrian Expressionism, 1900–1920
Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), 10/23/1977 - 12/03/1977

Moments in Portraiture
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri), 03/16/1966 - 04/13/1966

German Expressionism
Columbus Museum of Art (Columbus, Ohio), 02/10/1961 - 03/09/1961

Masterpieces of Twentieth Century German Art
Richard L. Feigen & Company, 04/14/1958 - 06/07/1958

Expressionism: The Richard L. Feigen Collection
World House Galleries, 09/18/1957 - 11/02/1957

February 28, 1959–December 3, 1963
Mr. and Mrs. Sydney M. Shoenberg, Jr., St. Louis

Inscription [CL of canvas, written in script in black paint:] LM 1912

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