Death and the Old Man (Tod und Greis) from Dance of Death (Totentanz)

Art Historical Context

This powerful etching, *Death and the Old Man belongs to Lovis Corinth’s 1921 portfolio *Dance of Death* (*Totentanz*), published following year. The German artist, known for his evolution from Impressionist roots toward a more expressive, emotionally charged style, here revives a centuries-old European motif in which Death confronts people of every age and station. In this plate an aged figure faces the inevitable, a theme that carried particular resonance in the early 1920s. Executed as a softground etching on wove paper, the work exploits a printmaking method that yields richer, more painterly lines than traditional hard-ground etching. The technique allowed Corinth to achieve a sense of immediacy and tactile energy within the modest plate size of roughly 9 by 7 inches. As one of only five images in the set, it demonstrates his late mastery of graphic media and his ability to compress profound human drama into an intimate format. The print invites quiet contemplation of mortality’s universality, a subject artists have explored since the Middle Ages. Presented as a gift to the National Gallery of Art, it remains a compelling example of how traditional themes can be renewed through modern technical and emotional intensity.

About the Artist

Lovis Corinth · 1858–1925

Lovis Corinth, born Franz Heinrich Louis on July 21, 1858, in Tapiau, East Prussia (now Gvardeysk, Russia), to a tanner father, displayed prodigious drawing talent from childhood. He began formal training at the Königsberg Academy in 1876, then moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1880 to 1884, studying under Ludwig von Löfftz and briefly Franz von Defregger, where he absorbed a Realis...