Aus Trümmern erhebt sich der Mensch 1942

Karl Wiener made this drawing titled 'Aus Trümmern erhebt sich der Mensch' in 1942, and it feels like he made it tentatively, as if he's feeling his way forward. The texture is built from many short lines, forming planes with subtle tonal variations. It's so architectural, he's using the pencil almost like a construction tool. I love the top of the rubble heap, how it becomes a flat platform where the figure stands. The man himself is so stolid, so upright, despite everything that’s happened. There’s a real tension between fragility and strength in this drawing, and it reminds me of some of those early Cubist paintings by Picasso and Braque, but with an added layer of emotion, as if Wiener is trying to find a new way of seeing after everything has been broken apart. It's less about destruction and more about reconstruction. The drawing feels like a conversation, not just with other artists, but with the future.