Ernst Stöhr (1865-1917)
Woman Contemplating a Skull
1902
woodcut
The Daulton Collection
Our impression of this woodcut comes from the catalogue of the 1902 Klinger-Beethoven exhibition, Vienna (XIV. Ausstellung der Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, Secession Wien). The Daulton Collection owns a copy of this important catalogue, which contains 15 additional woodcuts (by other leading Viennese modernists) and has been called "undoubtedly the most artistically perfect catalogue of the Secession" [""unzweifelhaft der künstlerisch vollendetste Katalog der Secession"]. A founder of the Vienna Secession, Ernst Stöhr wrote the preface or foreword for the catalogue. After the 1902 exhibition, Stöhr went through a period of severe depression following the death of his uncle, his other mother, and his father. Our oil painting, "Death and the Maiden," dates from this dark period. Stöhr committed suicide in 1917.
