The MMK Wörlen Passau is dedicating a rare show to Wilhelm Lehmbruck's little-noticed prints - a concentrated look at an oeuvre that unfolds a quiet, haunting visual language beyond his well-known sculptures.
With around 200 sheets - mostly drypoint etchings and some lithographs - Wilhelm Lehmbruck's (1881-1919) graphic work is clearly outlined and has been published in a catalog raisonné since 1964. This makes it all the more surprising that art-historical interest in Lehmbruck's prints has hardly grown to date - even though the artist himself once expressed a keen interest in exhibitions of his prints.
With over 100 prints from the Zerres Collection in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Passau exhibition now offers an opportunity to take a fresh and intensive look at this subject. Why did the famous sculptor also produce prints? What themes interested him? What artistic development can be seen in Lehmbruck's prints? And how do they fit into his oeuvre as a whole? The exhibition is complemented by selected small sculptures by Lehmbruck from private collections in southern Germany and from the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.
October 25, 2025 to January 25, 2026
Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Niedergedrückte, 1912, drypoint etching
© Zerres Collection. Photo: Höhner Photography, Bonn
