Illustration til "Flinchs Almanak" 1873 - 1874

This is F. Hendriksen’s pen and ink illustration for "Flinchs Almanak". The composition is bisected into a rectangular upper zone and a vertical shaft, creating a stark contrast between surface and depth. The upper register presents a narrative scene on a flat plane. There is a grieving woman, a corpse and sparse, arid landscape. The illustration's depth is created by the shaft. The shaft is densely worked with cross-hatching, pulling us into the earth. There, a skeletal figure ascends using ropes. The artist presents us with a literal depiction of the underworld. The illustration subverts traditional notions of pictorial space by eschewing traditional perspective. It invites us to consider how meaning is constructed through juxtaposed spaces and symbolic forms. Hendriksen challenges the viewer to decipher the relationship between the realms of mortality and the spectral, questioning where meaning resides in the face of death.