HECKEL, ERICH

born July 31, 1883, Dbeln, Ger. died Jan. 27, 1970, Radolfzell, W.Ger. painter, printmaker, and sculptor who was one of the founding members of Die Brcke (The Bridge), an influential group of Expressionist artists (see Brcke, Die). He is best known for his paintings of nudes and landscapes. In 1904 Heckel began to study architecture in Dresden, where Die Brcke was formed the following year. Heckel's early works as a member of that group reveal his admiration for Van Gogh. Having moved to Berlin in 1911, he became increasingly interested in formal pictorial composition. Yet he had the ability to use colour and distorted space to achieve a highly emotive effect. "Women by a Lake" (1913; Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg, Ger.) reflects the influence of the Futurist painters' volatile representation of fractured light. His interest in African sculpture is best displayed in such woodcuts as "Sleeping Negress" (1908) and in his wood sculpture, "Crouching Girl" (1912; Collection of the Artist, Hemmenhofen, Ger.). Heckel served as a medical corpsman in World War I. Most of his prewar works were lost, and after 1920 his painting became more appealing to popular taste. Nevertheless, in 1937 the Nazis declared his works "decadent." After World War II he taught at the Academy of Art in Karlsruhe, W.Ger. (1949-56), until his retirement. In 1963 a retrospective exhibit was held in Munich, Berlin, and Stuttgart.