Biblical scene

The graphic Passion. Einzelne Figur auf Felsen was made in 1918 as part of a series devoted to the Passion of Christ, using the dry needle technique on thin vellum paper. Expressively and innovatively, Hans Blanke depicted the biblical scene of the temptation of Jesus according to the Gospel of St. Luke (paragraph 4, verse 5). In this story, Satan led Jesus to a high mountain and, with beautiful promises, tried to break his will to suffer and thus thwart God's plans. The artist has taken the biblical story literally, placing the out-of-body Christ on a lonely rock with emptiness all around. Christ is sitting in a pose of a pondering melancholic with terror in his eyes in the middle of a wide circle of dead light. Nevertheless, a power radiates from his figure. Blanke wanted to draw attention to the fact that Christ's fate is also the fate of a human. Hans Blanke was born in 1886 in Magdeburg. The circumstances and time of his death are not known. The last mention of the artist is from 1953. After graduating from the art academy in Munich, he worked as a set designer in Düsseldorf, designing costumes for films and book illustrations. He also created paintings, drawings and graphics on various subjects.

Ewa Gwiazdowska