Lady in the Rain
Medium
lithograph printed in black
Dimensions
image: 42.3 x 31.6 cm (16 5/8 x 12 7/16 in.) sheet: 50 x 38.6 cm (19 11/16 x 15 3/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2012.92.73
Art Historical Context
**Lady in the Rain** (1914) is a striking lithograph by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a pioneering German Expressionist and co-founder of the Die Br group. Created on the eve of World War, this black-and-white print captures the raw energy of urban life in early 20th-century Germany Kirchner, known for his bold distortions and emotional intensity, often depicted city streets teeming with modernity's alienation, and this image of a solitary woman braving the rain evokes the isolation amid bustling crowds—a hallmark of Expressionist response to industrialization and social upheaval. Printed in black i...
About the Artist
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1880–1938
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born on May 6, 1880, in Aschaffenburg, Germany, to parents Ernst and Maria Kirchner, part of a family of Prussian descent that frequently relocated due to his father's career as a chemical technician. After early schooling in various towns, he studied architecture at the Königliche Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in Dresden from 1901 to 1905, taking courses i...