Five Women on the Street

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

National Gallery of Art

Printed with bold, black, angular lines and slashes on white paper, five stylized women stand in a loose row across the width of this vertical woodcut. All five wear long, dark coats or dresses. The leftmost woman wears a turban-like hat, and the others have hats topped with long plumes. Their bodies are narrow and taper to their feet, and all the women appear to stand with hands in pockets except the frontmost, who braces one hand on her hip. Their features are roughly carved with almond shapes or slits for eyes, thickly outlined lips, heavy eyebrows, and some horizontal shading on the cheeks. The all face our left in profile except the leftmost woman, who faces us. Some abstracted forms, including a wheel, fill the right quarter of the composition. The rest of the background is white except for some carving marks that printed black.