Self-Portrait with Dancing Death by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Self-Portrait with Dancing Death 1917 - 1918

drawing, woodcut

portrait

17_20th-century

drawing

pen drawing

pen illustration

pen sketch

death

junji ito style

ink line art

pen-ink sketch

woodcut

pen work

tattoo art

coloring book page

doodle art

"Self-Portrait with Dancing Death" is a woodcut created by German Expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in 1917-1918. The artwork is a powerful portrayal of the artist's own psychological state during World War I. Kirchner’s angular, fragmented style reflects the anxieties of the era. The stark black and white woodcut depicts Kirchner facing a skeletal figure, a representation of death, while a sense of foreboding is present in the composition. The artwork is currently housed at the Städel Museum.

Comments

stadelmuseum about 1 year ago

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As in a metamorphosis, the figure of a dancing Death seems to rise up out of the portrait of the artist with a hunchback. During the phase when Kirchner suffered from paralysis of the hands, he was unable to break areas of any appreciable size out of wooden blocks. The resistance offered by the material, however, enabled him to cut lines into the surface with a V-parting tool as steadily as with a drawing utensil. This print is accordingly defined for the most part by white (non-printing) lines.