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Death as a Juggler (Revolution) [Tod als Jongleur (Revolution)]

Death as a Juggler (Revolution) [Tod als Jongleur (Revolution)]

Christian Rohlfs
German, 1849–1938
(1918-19)
A woodcut print that stages Death as a gaunt, juggling figure confronting three clutching, mask‑like people to dramatize the peril of revolution and mortality.
The image strikes you with its brutal black‑on‑cream contrast and carved, striated surface—the skeletal, contorted body of Death on one side and the flattened, haunted faces of three figures on the other, as if carved from the same anxious block.
Created in 1918–19, the print shows how German Expressionists revived the woodcut as a blunt, communal vehicle for wartime trauma and political upheaval, insisting that printmaking could convey raw social emotion and urgency.
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
composition: 14 5/16 x 17 11/16" (36.4 x 45 cm); sheet: 14 11/16 x 17 11/16" (37.3 x 45 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Given anonymously
Accession
144.1964
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
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