De Heerschers ("Gotsamesodemietere me gaone staoke!") 1923 - 1929

"De Heerschers (Gotsamesodemietere me gaone staoke!)" was drawn in 1923 by Erich Wichmann, most likely in charcoal. It's all about the process, right? The smudgy darkness of the charcoal creates these ghostly, looming figures. You see these four heads, or are they masks? Each one different, some grinning, some almost mournful. It’s raw, you can see the artist’s hand in the way the charcoal is applied, almost like he attacked the page. Look at the way the lines blur, how the shadows give depth but also obscure. It’s like a half-remembered nightmare, or a fever dream. Wichmann was part of this whole Dada scene, and you see that irreverence here, that refusal to take things too seriously. It reminds me a little of Ensor, that same fascination with masks and the grotesque. Art doesn’t have to be pretty, it doesn’t have to be neat. It can be messy, unsettling, and still be beautiful.