Letter K: Kiss! - Lovis Corinth

A powerful lithograph by Lovis Corinth, capturing an intimate embrace through expressive, gestural marks and high-contrast shading.

This lithograph by Lovis Corinth, titled Letter K: Kiss!, forms part of his late-career graphic output. Corinth, a central figure in the transition from academic realism to German Expressionism, utilised the lithographic medium to capture raw, immediate emotional states. The work displays his characteristic approach to the human form, where anatomical precision is secondary to the expressive power of the line and the interplay of shadow.

The composition centres on an intimate embrace. Corinth employs heavy, gestural marks to define the figures, creating a sense of urgency and physical closeness. The dark, sweeping strokes that frame the couple serve to isolate them from their surroundings, focusing the viewer entirely on the interaction between the two bodies. His technique here is loose and spontaneous, reflecting the freedom he embraced in his later years, particularly following his stroke in 1911, which altered his artistic trajectory towards a more subjective and emotive style.

As a print, this work demonstrates the artist's mastery of lithography, a medium that allowed him to translate the immediacy of his drawing directly onto the stone. The contrast between the stark black ink and the paper ground creates a dramatic tension. The figures appear to emerge from the darkness, their forms partially obscured by the heavy application of lithographic crayon. This piece provides insight into Corinth's exploration of human relationships and his ability to convey complex psychological states through minimal visual information. It is a direct, unadorned observation of human connection, typical of the artist's late period where he moved away from the polished surfaces of his earlier academic training toward a more visceral, personal mode of expression.