Untitled (in-text plate, page 28) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode)
Max Pechstein
German, 1881–1955
1918 (executed 1917)
A lithographic illustration by Max Pechstein that renders the churning sea as a single, expressive plate meant to echo and intensify the poem on its pages.
You first notice the dense, looping black-gray strokes stacked like waves and foam, their rough, hand-drawn energy contrasting with the calm, cream-colored text page.
As part of an illustrated book, this lithograph shows how modern artists used bold, tactile printmaking within literature to make images that are emotional partners to text, helping to expand the possibilities of the artist’s book in the early twentieth century.
Medium
Lithograph from an illustrated book with twenty one lithographs
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 8 11/16 x 10 1/4" (22 x 26 cm); page: 20 x 15 1/16" (50.8 x 38.2 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of R. Kirk Askew, Jr.
Accession
145.1945.16
Palette
Exhibitions
