The Beating Station and After, Berlin (study)
Artist
Jerome Witkin
(American, born 1939)
Date1989-90
MediumCharcoal on wove paper
DimensionsOverall: 50 1/4 x 31 9/16in. (127.6 x 80.2cm)
ClassificationsDRAWINGS
Credit LineGift of the Artist in Loving Memory of Art Kane
Terms
Object number95.13
On View
Not on viewLabel TextJerome Witkin painted a series of canvases based on the Holocaust and made numerous sketches in preparation. Here Witkin creates an ominous, dungeon space from which a figure emerges. Note the varied marks and erasures of charcoal the artist uses to describe different textures, light, and shadow. Witkin drew the woman's body incompletely and concentrated on her grimacing face. By lighting her from below, he accentuates the scene's eerie atmosphere.
Witkin's work always suggests a narrative. In this case, the woman looks above and to her left, as if she were praying. Perhaps she heard something - the cries of a fellow prisoner or the unwelcome approach of her captor. In fact, Witkin drew the profile of a figure looking at the woman from the right, but he did not develop this second character.
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