Loneliness

Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack
Australia/Germany
1893 – 1965

Loneliness
1951
monotype printed in blue ink, hand-coloured with watercolour on paper
Place made
Melbourne
Medium
monotype printed in blue ink, hand-coloured with watercolour on paper
Dimensions
19.7 x 29.0 cm (sheet)
Credit line
Gift of Olive Hirschfeld, the artist's widow, 1985
Accession number
859G21
Signature and date
SIgned and dated in image, l.l. corner, pencil, "L.H. Mack 1951".
Media category
Print
Collection area
Australian prints
Copyright
© Estate of Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack
Image credit
Photo: Stewart Adams

  • Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack’s fascination with printmaking developed during his years at the Weimar Bauhaus (1919–25). There he worked closely with Paul Klee
    to explore a new method of monotype called ‘Dürchdruckzeichnung’. By placing a piece of paper lightly on an inked sheet of glass and drawing with pressure on the back of the paper, the image appeared on the face of the sheet in soft ink lines. This technique, often used in conjunction with watercolour, was well suited to his rhythmic compositions, including this poignant work, Loneliness. 

    Hirschfeld-Mack’s art was informed by theories of colour, music and light, as well as being shaped by his wartime experiences. He was a soldier in the German army during the First World War, in 1936 leaving Germany to escape Nazi oppression. After resettling in England, in 1940 he was deported as an ‘enemy alien’ to internment camps in Australia (in Hay, Orange and Tatura). He was eventually released in March 1942, thanks to the intervention of Geelong Grammar School.

    Julie Robinson, Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs


  • Hirschfeld-Mack’s fascination with printmaking developed during his years at the Weimar Bauhaus (1919–25). There he was apprenticed to Lionel Feininger in the printmaking workshop and worked closely with Paul Klee to explore a new method of monotype called 'Dürchdruckzeichnung'.

     

    A piece of paper was lightly placed on a sheet of inked glass. By drawing with pressure on the back of the paper, soft ink lines were transferred to the face of the sheet, creating the image. Once the print was dry, colour could be added with watercolour wash.

     

    Hirschfeld-Mack pursued this technique throughout his career and it was well suited to his rhythmic compositions – some abstract and some figurative – such as this poignant work, Loneliness, which echoes the sentiment of his wartime woodcut, Desolation. 

     

    Julie Robinson, Senior Curator, Prints, Drawings & Photographs

     

  • Andreas Gursky and Melancholy in German Art

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 5 November 2016 – 30 April 2017
  • [Book] AGSA 500.