Goethe & Graf: Totentanz

INTRODUCTION

While I’ve had this book of 28 etchings by German artist Oscar Graf (1873-1958) for over 40 years, I’ve never made a blog post on it. But since it includes his etchings that illustrate the Halloween-appropriate poem Totentanz (Dance of Death by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who may rightly be identified as the most influential writer in German, I think it’s about time.

I have previously blogged on Dance of Death, so I’ll just refer to Alfred Rethel’s six wood engraved sequence Ein Todtentanz aus dem Jahre 1848 (LINK). And the most renown version are the sequence that German artist Hans Holbein (1497–1543) created in 1523-5 that was plague-inspired in which all strata of society were fair game for Death. (LINK)

In Goethe’s poem of 1813 Death is a living Death that climbs out of the grave and intends harm. In that respect it’s more in line with Rethel’s Death, which was instructed to mislead lower classes in order to stem the thirst for democracy in parts of mid-19th-century Europe.

Graf in his book, in a very limited edition of 110 copies, his chose two of Goethe’s poems: Totentanz and Hochzeitlied (Wedding Song) of 1804. The latter is about a miniature wedding that takes place under the bed of a sleeping knight.

What’s notable about Graf’s book is that it is entirely of etchings–everything that is except his penciled signature and numbering below each plate. It’s like a world before movable type. For instance Biblia Pauperum from the 1400s were books of bible scenes with limited text where both images and words were cut into the wood blocks.

Because of the Halloween timing, only Totentanz will be presented here. Beside photos of each of Graf’s etchings are the German text in a contemporary font and an 1874 translation in English by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1826-1911).

Totentanz

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