Rudolf Wünsch

Head of Medusa (Medusenhaupt)

pencil on paper

24.2 x 22.1 cm

c. 1898

signed indistinctly

Publication History:

 Jugend, 3. Jg., Heft 19, 07.05.1898, S. 313

Janina Majerczyk, Oskar Zwintscher, Zwischen Symbolismus und Neuer Sachlichkeit (Baden-Baden: Tectum Verlag, 2019), pp. 217, 583, ill. 95.

"Wünsch shows a portrait of a woman en face, in which the captivating effect is evoked by the woman's intense gaze. ... Wünsch also worked with an enigmatic illumination of the face from below, which gives the beautiful face an unsettling, demonic character. Although Wünsch does not use snake hair, the framing in the form of two intertwined snakes, which in turn make the picture appear like a mirror, clearly establishes the connection to Medusa."  Majerczyk at p. 217 (English trans.).