Ernst Barlach

Woodcuts for Goëthe’s Walpurgisnacht

Maker

Ernst Barlach (German, 1870-1938)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, author
Paul Cassirer, publisher

Title

Woodcuts for Goëthe’s Walpurgisnacht

Year

1923

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

woodcut

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

52.027

Type

Exhibition History

A Process of Protest
Prints and Drawings of Käthe Kollwitz
Jul 28, 2006 – Nov 26, 2006

Label copy

The book consists of one scene from Johann Wolfgang von Goëthe’s drama Faust. The scene, entitled Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis Night), is named after a night in May when witches were thought to meet with the devil. In the drama, Mephistopheles tempts Faust to assume a young and sexual body and throws him into the arms of a naked young witch. Barlach’s reductive, expressive cutting and broad areas of black were the inspiration for Kollwitz’s venture into the woodcut technique.

Expressionist Visions
Prints and Drawings from the Museum's Collection
Dec 04, 1992 – Jan 24, 1993

Image use

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Tombstone

Ernst Barlach (German, 1870-1938)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, author
Paul Cassirer, publisher
Woodcuts for Goëthe’s Walpurgisnacht, 1923
Woodcuts
Museum Works of Art Fund 52.027

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