The Dance of the Dead 3: Deathly Pursuer 1924

Editor: This is "The Dance of the Dead 3: Deathly Pursuer" by Ernst Barlach. The skeletal figure feels so immediate in the print, like Death is clawing its way out of the architecture. What are your thoughts? Curator: Barlach’s stark use of line directly implicates the viewer. The woodcut emphasizes the physical act of cutting and printing. The grain becomes a metaphor for decay, for the labor of existence itself, and the ever-present specter of death in Weimar Germany. Editor: Decay as a material! That makes me think about the social and economic turmoil of the time. Curator: Exactly! The print isn't just about death; it is about how societal structures grind us down, how we are all, in a way, consumed by the machinery of life itself. What do you make of the medium? Editor: It’s so raw. I see your point about the labor involved now. Thanks for the insight! Curator: My pleasure. Considering the materials and means of production gives us so much to work with.