Double portrait 

Curator: Here we have Hanns Ludwig Katz’s “Double portrait,” a chalk drawing residing here at the Städel Museum. Editor: It's heavy, isn't it? A somber duet of watchful eyes. Makes me think of passport photos in some old spy film—or perhaps the before and after shots from a philosophical crisis. Curator: Indeed, there's a palpable intensity in their gazes. Katz masterfully employs light and shadow, emphasizing the contours of their faces. The slight asymmetry in their features contributes to a sense of realism. Editor: It's the shadows that get me—deep, almost bruised looking. The overall palette feels muted, melancholic. Are they related, do you think? There's a similarity but each seems burdened with a different set of secrets. The one on the right looks haunted. Curator: The formal repetition does suggest kinship—a mirroring of structure, though not exact. Look at how the artist subtly adjusts the line weight to convey depth. This contributes to the three-dimensionality, while the textural variety prevents it from feeling too uniform. Editor: Almost like he's drawing two sides of himself. A visual echo—the creative self wrestling with… who knows what? You could project just about anything onto those faces, couldn't you? That makes it feel so raw and immediate—confessional, even. Curator: It possesses a stark visual language. Observe the limited palette, for instance; the emphasis on line and tone, creating a psychological rather than a literal portrait. It encourages a focused engagement with the sitter’s internal state. Editor: And that, to me, is where its power lies, not in whether the drawing adheres to classical notions of portraiture, but rather in how much you think about it long after you’ve seen it. Those eyes stay with you, pondering. I imagine Katz put a bit of his own soul into them. Curator: Precisely, a valuable reminder of the way even simple materials—paper, chalk—become sites for encoding very complicated human emotion. Editor: Absolutely, it has staying power and reminds us to truly observe—yourself or others—it may reveal more than we expect.