This is a drawing of a dark, abstract composition with German text. The image features a woodcut-style illustration at the top with intricate shapes. Below the illustration, there is German text with the title "DIE MESSE" and a subtitle "(ALS MEINE SCHWESTER WEINTE)". The text consists of a poem or prose that evokes a somber and reflective mood. The text describes a scene involving candles, monks, and a sense of peace or tranquility amidst death or mourning.
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Die Messe (The Mass) (headpiece, page 61) from Georg Heym: Umbra Vitae (Georg Heym: The Shadow of Life)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880 - 1938)

and author Georg Heym (German, born Poland, 1887 - 1912)

printer Spamersche Buchdruckerei, Leipzig

publisher Kurt Wolff (German, 1887 - 1963)

1924

Medium
woodcut from a bound volume with 50 woodcuts (including cover and front and back endpapers) on wove paper
Classification
Volume
Dimensions
book: 23.8 × 16.5 × 1.2 cm (9 3/8 × 6 1/2 × 1/2 in.)
Culture
German
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CG-W
Credit line
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art