Totenwache (14. Jahresblatt). 1944.
Woodcut.
Ebner/Gabelmann 869 H. Dube H 375. Signed and dated, as well as inscribed "1945" in printing block. On off-white paper. 10.4 x 20.8 cm (4 x 8.1 in). Sheet: 16,4 x 26,7 cm (6,4 x 10,5 in).
As of 1930, Heckel sent the so-called annual sheets to friends and collectors as New Year greetings (except for 1941). [JS].
• In this sheet from around the end of WW II, Heckel adresses the terrors of war.
• The dead young men stands for the victims of the war and thus expresses grief, while the rising sun above the lake in back stands for hope and a new beginning.
• Another copy is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

PROVENANCE: Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 336, SHG no. 533 (with illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 248, SHG no. 557 (with illu.).

In good condition. Evenly discolored and with tiny isolated mounting stains and minimally squeezed spots in places of the edges.