Mädchen und Tod c. 1941

Karl Wiener made this collage, Mädchen und Tod, at an unknown date, using cut and pasted papers. I love how the image plays with representation and flatness. It is like Wiener is saying, ‘What does it mean to make an image?’ The figure is constructed of fragments. Look at how the leg seems to have been built up in layers of blue and grey tone. This creates a real sense of depth and volume in one area but elsewhere the same tones appear flat. In the top right, the skeleton in pencil is a beautifully rendered anatomical drawing, but the skeleton is so thin it is almost weightless on the page. The drawing of the skeleton reminds me of Paul Klee's graphic style. Both artists play with the idea of line, flattening three-dimensional forms to simple marks on a page. But, while Klee goes for gentle humor, Wiener has a dark, unsettling, edge.