This is a drawing featuring a poem titled "HORA MORTIS" in German, which translates to "Hour of Death" in English. Below the text is an illustration depicting a somber scene in a graveyard. The drawing shows several hooded figures surrounded by crosses symbolizing graves. The figures are dressed in long garments, some are kneeling or sitting with their faces covered in mourning gestures. The contrast between black ink and light paper highlights the melancholic tone. The intricate illustration captures the sorrowful atmosphere with careful attention to detail in the figures' postures and the…
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Hora Mortis (Hour of Death) (in-text plate) from mock-up of Georg Heym: Umbra Vitae (Georg Heym: 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)

1912/1922

Medium
woodcut from a bound volume with 51 woodcuts (including cover and front and back endpapers) on wove paper
Classification
Volume
Dimensions
book: 21.7 × 14.5 × 1.3 cm (8 9/16 × 5 11/16 × 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