Mortality 1914

This is Jakob Steinhardt’s etching ‘Mortality’, dating from 1914. Look at how Steinhardt renders the figures. The cross hatching feels almost like a tangle of dark wire, the etched lines becoming both form and texture. The old man’s face is a map of wrinkles, each etched line a testament to time, while the skull beside him grins out from a thicket of thorny branches. Printmaking can be so unforgiving – every scratch tells, and this piece is full of them. See how the light catches in those tiny crevices, creating a ghostly shimmer? The linear style reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz, the way she used the stark contrast of black and white to convey such raw emotion. Maybe that’s why I find it so moving – it’s not just about death, it’s about the beauty and fragility of life itself.