Series "Revolution"
| Artists | |
|---|---|
| Year | 2018 |
| Material | Collage, woodcut of Alfred Rethel "Dance of Death", 1848; stamps/overprints of the RSFSR, 1922 |
| Size | 28 × 47,5 сm. Framed: 60,5 × 60,5 cm |
The series of woodcuts by Alfred Rethel "Another Dance of Death" is dedicated to the attempts of revolutionary transformation of the German Confederation in 1848-1849. The artist himself witnessed the May uprising in Dresden, the same one after which Bakunin was arrested and Wagner was forced to flee to Zurich. The plot of the series is simple: the awakened revolution, aka death, comes to the common people, tempts them with promises of equality for all, incites them to start a rebellion, and after the defeat and death of those who followed it, leaves in a laurel wreath, as the only winner.
Rethel's woodcuts, showing the revolution as a catastrophe, he carefully covers with signs of revolution as everyday life. For this procedure of artistic re-encryption, he uses the stamps of the RSFSR, obtained in a similar way: stars with a sickle and a hammer are printed over pre-revolutionary double-headed eagles.
Text: Anastasia Kotyleva
