I’ve come into possession of two hand colored lithographs signed by in pencil by “E. Kirschstein”. Based on the subject matter, I presume they were produced in the 1950’s or post war 40’s.  They have distinctly mid century feel to them.  My two pieces were under glass in what appeared to be an original simple thin black frame with cardboard backing held in with sharp metal glazing points.  The prints measure 9.5 inches wide by 11.5 inches long, with approximately 1 inch wide white space border. 

I’ve discovered that these lithographs are part of a series of at least six Berlin landmark themed lithographs by Kirschstein, depicting life among notable landmarks in Berlin. There may be more prints I am unaware of, but this is what I have identified thus far.  One print in the series depicts a church in 1936, while another shows the same landmark post 1944 bombing raid. Perhaps there was an earlier series of prints depicting 1936 Berlin? 

My working assumption is that these lithographs were brought back to the United States post war by American service people and tourists, primarily as souvenir art. That’s not to say the pieces are not worthwhile.  When I compared my pieces against photos on auction sites of the same name, its easy to see that the pencil coloring is unique from piece to piece. These were indeed individually colored.

The first work I have depicts the Emperor William Memorial Church in a partially damaged state. It is hand signed and titled in pencil as  “Gedaechtniskirche, Berlin.”  This landmark still exists.

The second work depicts the Funkturm, the landmark Berlin Radio Tower, and is hand signed and titled in pencil as “Funkturm, Berlin“. The tower was inspired by the design of the Eiffel Tower. It was built from 1924 and 1926.  The Funkturm still exists and is a protected landmark in Berlin. 

These two works appear to be part of a series of six lithographs. The other four works in the set are:

 “Luftbrückendenkmal, Berlin“, the airlift memorial. 

“Brandenburger Tor, Berlin“,  Brandenburg Gate.

“Siegessäule, Berlin“, the Berlin Victory Column.

“Gedaechtniskirche, Berlin, 1936“, Emperor William’s Church in 1936

“Gedaechtniskirche, Berlin, 1936“, depicting Emperor William Memorial Church intact, prior to being damaged in in a 1943 bombing raid on Berlin. 

While these works do not appear to be particularly valuable, they are interesting enough to me to beg the question, who was Erhard Kirschstein?

Despite the survival of his litho works and prevalence of them on auction sites, very little information is available about Erhard Kirschstein.  I did find an interesting post from 2005 on JewishGen.org by Ron Card that asked for information about the artist. He wrote:

“I’m looking for any information on a Pre-WW Two, Berlin Jewish artist named, ERHARD
KIRSCHSTEIN, who made etchings of Berlin street scenes. I’ve come up
with nothing with internet searches…perhaps I’m not looking in the
right place. 

My reason is that three of Kirschstein’s lovely hand-colored etchings,
10′ x 12″ in size, have miraculously survived and have turned up here in
Central Virginia, of all places, and are in my possession(an interesting
story). What is extremely revolent and historically-significant, is
that each of these three etchings have two official German government
(rubber)stampings on the backside, and I’m guessing they must be circa
1931/1932.

One circular stamp is the official stamp of CONFISCATION of works of
art, and the second stamp denotes that these paticular etchings did not
fall under the definition of forbidden works’, by the German Art
Commission(?). I assume this means that these 3 etchings were among the
very LAST works by Berlin Jewish artists allowed to leave
Germany–Pre-1933. If this is the case, these works are probably very
rare, and each one is signed by Kirschstein, along with an
identification of the scene(no date or number).”

I was curious about the pre-war rubber stamps described by Ron Card, so I removed the lithograph from its frame, but I found no markings or stamps on the back of either of my pieces. If anyone finds such markings, I would assume that to be very rare. Please add a picture of those stamps on the art work to the comments of this story. I would really like to see them.

Are Erhard Kirschstein prints rare or valuable?

 The price of these lithograph prints seem to vary widely, from $25 up to $200.  The market for Kirschstein seems relatively small and confined to eBay and Etsy.  From my time spent reasearching, I seems that the four most common pieces, often sold in a set of four, are:

“Luftbrückendenkmal, Berlin“, the airlift memorial. 

“Brandenburger Tor, Berlin“,  Brandenburg Gate.

“Siegessäule, Berlin“, the Berlin Victory Column

“Gedaechtniskirche, Berlin,  Emperor William Memorial Church 

The last two appear to rarer and less available:

 “Gedaechtniskirche 1936, Berlin,  Emperor William Memorial Church, 1936

“Funkturm, Berlin“, Berlin Radio Tower

Other Works by Erhard Kirschstein

Kirschstein also produced watercolor paintings of Berlin street scenes. Here are some links to images on other websites that you can explore.

“Summer Landscape with Country Building by Stream with Bridge” is the collection of  The Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin & Marshall College

There is an interesting tempera painting of three horses attributed at auction to Kirschstein.

Another horse print was auctioned in 2022.

Water colors have turned up on Worthpoint.

There are at least two other lithographs by Kirschstein of costumed folk people that occasionally popup for sale. You can view them and read more here.

What do we know about Erhard Kirschstein? 

Not much biographically is known about Erhard Kirschstein,  beyond what a few pieces of his work can hint at. I found references to his birth and death dates, which seem reasonable given the subject matter he created, however I can’t point to a specific primary source for that information.

If his birth year is correct, he would have been 14 years old when the Nazi’s took control of Germany, and about 24 by the end of the war, a dangerous time to be a young man in Germany.

Was Kirschstein Jewish?  Again, we don’t know definitively yet.  When I asked Google AI if Kirschstein was a Jewish family name, it replied: “Yes, Kirschstein can be considered a Jewish name, specifically of Ashkenazi origin. The name is a combination of the German words “Kirsch” (cherry) and “Stein” (stone), forming an artificial name. It’s also a variant of the German surname Kirstein, which has a similar meaning and origin.”  Take any Google AI result for what’s it worth, but it seems at least plausible he was Jewish.

Many details of Kirschstein’s life have yet to be uncovered, and until more information surfaces we are left to surmise his situation as a young man, possibly Jewish in Nazi Germany, who survived allied bombing and Nazi persecution, possibly even military service,  to become an artist who earned a living at least in part by selling unique hand colored lithograph prints depicting Berlin, most likely to tourists and allied occupiers, during the reconstruction of Berlin. 

His lithograph works were apparently sold framed. The thin wood frames are painted black, with thin glass and a card board backing held fast by window glazing points.  He is known to have produced some oils and water colors.  He painted at least two works featuring horses.  Based on eBay auctions, we also know that his works are regularly offered for sale by owners in America and Europe.

If you can provide any additional information or links that would shed more light on Kirschstein’s life and other works, please do so in the comments. 

Until then, have fun collecting Erhard Kirschstein prints and paintings!