Krieg

Krieg  ("War") is an original artwork realized by Hans Trudel in 1915. The monogram of the artist appears on the lower right margin. The xilograph is part of a portfolio including five graphic works realized by different artists and published in 1917. Good conditions except for a rip on the central right margin and other two small rips on the lower and on the upper right margin. 

Krieg ("War") is a representation of a fight. In the center of the xilograph there is the figure of a naked creature that is throwing a shot. At the bottom, there are some animal-like parts of bodies: the paws of a horse, the tail of a fish, and two big wings appear in the background. On the right, a small figure of a man is about to fight back with violence. The creature is a monstrosity: it has animal attributes instead of limbs. In the background there are some clouds. The style of this artwork presents typical expressionist features; in 1915, Hans Trudel moved to Wien to attend the Academy of Fine Arts: Wien was influenced by Jugendstil and Expressionism. Trudel became famous for his xilographs, appreciated especially by the German editors.

Hans Trudel (Zürich, 1881 – Zürich, 1958) was a Swiss sculptor, painter and engraver. He worked as a machine designer in Baden. In 1915, he abandoned his bourgeois lifestyle to move to Wien where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts. Viennese culture was still influenced by Art Nouveau and Jugendstil. In Wien, Trudel met Herrn von See, who became his patron. During the same period, he realized several xilographs that captured the interests of the German editor Cassierer. After the Viennese years, he returned to Baden, where he worked and lived, and where he founded an art gallery. He was the husband of Pauline Frey and the father of Wally Trudel, (Baden, 1908 - Zürich, 1995), another artist and painter.