Bernt Notke’s Lübecker Totentanz(Death Dance of Lübecker) was destroyed by Allied bo
Bernt Notke’s Lübecker Totentanz(Death Dance of Lübecker) was destroyed by Allied bombing in March of 1942. Theonly remaining photograph of its entirety is the top photo above, grainy and inblack and white. I came acrossthis photo last fall, while researching the theme of Dance Macabre. While thattheme is ultimately too medieval and simple to be abstracted into my own work—“DeathUnites All”—I found its formal representation to be very inspiring, especiallyin this painting. This sole, low-resolution photo of it entire is the way Icame to know the painting and has a very beautiful abstract representation ofthe Totentanz theme. I decidedto make a personal restoration of this painting, through making a series ondance. This ultimately became Dance: 10Works on Paper, and was six weeks of work. Shortly aftercoming across the full photo I found a modern high resolution color photo ofthe surviving piece from the bombing (see bottom photo). I find the colors not very well done andit not a pleasing painting.Fig 1. Full Painting, Black and WhiteFig 2. Copy of Painting 1Fig 3. Copy of Painting 2Fig 4. Surviving Fragment, color -- source link
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