Finale 1940

Karl Wiener made this drawing, Finale, in 1940, with what looks like ink on paper. The palette is restrained, almost monochromatic, and the repeated marks create the scene, making me think a lot about the process. I’m struck by the contrast between the smooth, flowing lines of the sky and the more rigid, angular shapes of the ruined city in the background. Then there are the bones in the foreground, rendered with a delicate, almost loving touch. The lines are precise, yet they also have a certain fragility. The mark-making gives the work a haunting quality, a sense of desolation and decay. It reminds me a little of Piranesi’s etchings of imagined ruins, but with a more personal, psychological edge. Both artists embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations over fixed meanings. It’s a conversation across time, really.