The First Day

1920

Ernst Barlach, Artist Paul Cassirer, Publisher

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title The First Day

Artwork Date 1920

Makers Ernst Barlach (Artist) German, 1870-1938 Paul Cassirer (Publisher) German, 1871 - 1926

Medium Woodcut printed in black ink on wove paper

Dimensions Image: 10 1/8 × 14 1/8 inches (25.7 × 35.9 cm) Sheet: 12 3/4 × 17 5/8 inches (32.4 × 44.8 cm) Framed: 19 3/4 × 24 3/4 × 1 3/8 inches (50.2 × 62.9 × 3.5 cm)

Classification Prints

Department Prints, Drawings & Photographs

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Hal H. Smith Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 31.1

Markings

Signed Signed, in pencil, lower right: EBarlach

Inscriptions Inscribed, in pencil, lower right corner: R 26066

Provenance

(Ernst Arnold Galerie, Dresden, Germany);
1931-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1989, cat. no. 99 (ill.).

Uhr, H. Masterpieces of German Expressionism at the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1982, p. 36 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Ernst Barlach, The First Day, 1920, woodcut printed in black ink on wove paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Hal H. Smith Fund, 31.1.