Object Details
Artist
Franz Marc
Date
1914
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
9 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches (24.1 x 19.7 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the Membership Purchase Fund
Object
Number
71.031
In his early work, Marc’s animals serve as redemption to man’s excessive follies, but as the wor(…)
In his early work, Marc’s animals serve as redemption to man’s excessive follies, but as the world became bleaker and war inevitable, his connection to the animal world became darker and the animals themselves harbingers of death and destruction. Here they have become brooding and malevolent and presage a world of chaos. The use of woodcut, with its stark blocky areas printed in pure unadulterated black ink, accentuate this depiction of despair.Marc was influenced by his close studies of woodcut illustrations in early printed bibles, and he planned to include this print in an illustrated bible he was organizing for Der Blaue Reiter, the Munich-based artist group he cofounded. The outbreak of World War I, in which Marc would lose his life at the Battle of the Verdun, ended his plans for the project. (“Imprint/ In Print,” curated by Nancy E. Green with assistance from Christian Waibel ’17 and presented at the Johnson Museum August 8 – December 20, 2015)
