Skull with a Wig, 1922

Rudolf Wacker (1893–1939) is one of the best-known representatives of New Objectivity in Austria. His exploration of this newly emerging stylistic idiom began around 1920 and culminated in realistic depictions of landscapes, figures and still lifes. After the end of World War I, which caused widespread destruction throughout Europe and left behind a “lost generation”, artists abandoned elaborate Expressionism in favor of objective forms of representation. Wacker’s 1922 Expressionist work “Skull with a Wig” can be interpreted as an attempt to come to terms with the horrors of war and shows a skull sporting long, flowing hair.

AS, 2024