Death and the Couple - Lovis Corinth

A powerful drypoint etching from Lovis Corinth's 1921 Totentanz series, exploring themes of mortality through raw, expressive line work.

This print belongs to the portfolio Totentanz (Dance of Death), produced by Lovis Corinth in 1921. The series engages with the memento mori tradition, a motif that gained renewed urgency in the aftermath of the First World War. Corinth, a central figure in German art during the early twentieth century, moved from a style rooted in academic realism toward a more subjective, gestural approach in his later years. This shift is evident in the raw, energetic line work seen here.

The composition depicts a skeletal figure of Death confronting a couple. The artist employs heavy, aggressive drypoint marks to create a sense of psychological tension. The figures are not rendered with anatomical precision, but rather through a series of rapid, dark strokes that suggest movement and decay. The contrast between the solid, bearded man and the spectral, encroaching figure of Death creates a stark visual narrative. The background is obscured by dense, chaotic hatching, which pushes the subjects to the foreground and heightens the claustrophobic atmosphere of the scene.

Corinth’s late graphic work is characterised by this departure from traditional finish. He prioritised the immediacy of the mark over polished detail, allowing the physical act of scratching the copper plate to remain visible. This print serves as a reflection on mortality, executed with the characteristic intensity of his final period. The work is signed by the artist in the lower margin, reflecting the standard practice for his limited edition prints of this era. It remains a stark example of how the artist utilised traditional printmaking techniques to convey modern anxieties and existential themes.