Lucht 1631 - 1632

Johann Wilhelm Baur created this print titled “Lucht,” or “Air,” using etching, sometime in the first half of the 17th century. Baur was working during the Baroque period, a time defined by its elaborate and dramatic style, which you can see reflected in the swirling clouds and dynamic figures of this piece. As the title indicates, “Lucht” is an allegorical representation of air, one of the four classical elements. Yet consider the implications of depicting air. How do you give form to something that is, by definition, formless? Baur populates the sky with gods, winged creatures, and signs of the zodiac. The print becomes a stage for a grand, theatrical performance, a space where power, divinity, and the cosmos converge. In “Lucht,” Baur invites us to consider the air not merely as a physical substance, but as a realm of imagination, myth, and meaning. It speaks to the human desire to understand our place in the universe, and the stories we create to make sense of the world around us.