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The dance of death at Basel Death and the Artist

HAP Grieshaber

La Casa del Libro

La Casa del Libro
San Juan, Puerto Rico

The dance of death is a medieval allegorical concept of the all-conquering and equalizing power of death. The earliest know example of the fully developed concept is a series of paintings in a cemetery in Paris, dated 1424-25, now destroyed. The genre subsequently spread through Northern Europe. After 1440, there was a mural in view in Basel. Grieshaber reworks the motif and updates the dance to the 20th century.
Helmut Andreas Paul Grieshaber (1909-1981), or HAP Grieshaber, a German printmaker, preferred the medium of the woodcut. He was apprenticed as a book printer and typesetter, while at the same time he studied calligraphy. In 1932 Grieshaber began concentrating on woodcut techniques. He discovered his typical graphic style in the so-called ‘Reutlinger Drucke’, a style which is strongly influenced by medieval woodcut techniques. He also created artworks for public spaces, such as wooden reliefs, mosaics, murals and stained-glass windows.
Published by Verlag der Kunst.

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  • Title: The dance of death at Basel Death and the Artist
  • Creator: H. A. P. Grieshaber
  • Date Created: 20th Century
  • Location Created: Dresden, Germany
  • Type: Artist Book
  • Medium: Woodcut
  • Art Movement: Modern
  • Art Form: Printmaking
  • Support: Paper
  • Depicted Topic: Skeleton
La Casa del Libro

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