Erich Heckel (*31 July 1883 in Döbeln, † 27 January 1970 in Radolfzell) was a German painter and graphic artist.
Read MoreThe artist achieved international fame through his involvement in the Expressionist artists' group "Brücke", which included Otto Mueller, Max Pechstein and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Erich Heckel began studying architecture at the Technical University in Dresden in 1904. There he made the acquaintance of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Fritz Bleyl at an early age. Together with Kirchner, Bleyl and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, the painter founded the artists' group "Brücke" in 1905. The "Brücke" artists were united by a strong group idea. The turn to clear, brightly used colour and the radical reduction of details gave the members of the "Brücke" a major role in the development of modernism in Germany.
A year later Heckel met Max Pechstein and Emil Nolde, and became friends with Gustav Schiefler (art collector, patron of the arts) and Dr Rosa Schapire (art historian/collector). From 1906-1910, the artist travelled several times to Dangast (North Sea) and to the Moritzburg Lakes (Saxony).
In spring 1910 Heckel met Otto Mueller in Berlin. The following year he moved to Berlin and took over Mueller's studio in Berlin-Steglitz.
In 1912 the artist took part in the Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne. This event led to a friendship with Lyonel Feininger and Dr. Walter Kaesbach, who was an important supporter of Expressionist art. The artist's first special exhibition took place in 1913 at the Gurlitt Gallery in Berlin. In the same year, the "Brücke" disbanded.
Text courtesy Galerie Utermann.
