Idols c. 1930s

Carl Hoeckner’s drawing presents us with some stark contrasts, done with graphite on paper. Look at how the artist has drawn the man on the left, all bulging muscles and a face contorted in a shout. It’s powerful, angry, really visceral. Then, on the right, we have the figures of two women, seemingly rejoicing. I can imagine Hoeckner working on this, the weight of the pencil in his hand, the scratching and layering of marks. Maybe he was thinking about power, desire, ecstasy? The artist may have felt like these figures were somewhere between mythology, the circus, and dreams, with a range of emotional and visual sensations. Think how the dark hatching behind the figures throws them into relief. I am curious to see how this work fits into his larger oeuvre. Maybe he looked at Otto Dix or George Grosz. However, the women, the screaming man, all the cross-hatching... Artists are always talking to each other, across time, in a visual conversation.