Erich Heckel in Flanders

A monograph on one of the leading figures of German Expressionism, Erich Heckel and on artistic exchange in wartime Europe

This book illuminates a less well-known yet coherent and deeply familiar period in the artistic career of the German expressionist Erich Heckel (1883-1970). The book contextualises the beginnings and the evolution of his work in the years from 1905 to 1918.

In 1914 Heckel volunteered to go to the front, ending up on a hospital train that took him to Flanders. He remained there until the end of the First World War, working as an orderly in Roeselare, Ostend and Ghent. In Flanders, Heckel sketched daily events in the emergency hospital, of the places he visited and the people he encountered. He made woodcuts depicting expressive heads of the orderlies and their patients and of biblical subjects such as The Madonna of Ostend and The Good Samaritan.

As a painter, Heckel was impressed by the landscape and the sea, and the unusual cloud formations. His landscapes and seascapes are an important highlight from this period of his work. The works included are romantic and expressive, natural and symbolic, spiritual, tangible and nostalgic.

German artist Erich Heckel (1883-1970) was one of the leading figures of German expressionism and modernist art. A founding member of the Brücke group of artists. He had developed his own unique style, characterised using bright colours, vigorous brushstrokes and angular shapes.