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Clément Moreau: La comedia humana/Nacht über Deutschland (1937/38), part 23 to 33

Linocut: Clément Moreau: Nacht über Deutschland [Night over Germany] fig. 23
Fig. 23: Clément Moreau, Ein Strick, um sich selbst aufzuhängen [A Rope to Hang Oneself With], 20x16.5cm
© Stiftung Clément Moreau Zürich

Clément Moreau: La comedia humana/Nacht über Deutschland (1937/38), part 23 to 33

[Night over Germany] 107 Linocuts on Japanese tissue (gampi)
First published in Argentinisches Tageblatt and Argentina Libre, 1940

Ich hatte Mühsam gern, und wir sind zusammen ausgekommen. Sein Verhalten, seine Lebensweise war eine feine, immer freundlich, angenehm im Umgang, gewaltlos; er hat nie über andere befohlen, andere belehrt.

[I liked Mühsam and we got along well. His manner, his way of life was a fine one, he was always friendly, pleasant in his dealings, non-violent; he never bossed people around or instructed them. (ed. trans.)]

Clément Moreau in an interview 1978/79

A man in a black SS uniform and the skull emblem stands in the doorway of the prison cell. He hands the prisoner the rope: A rope with which to hang himself (figure 23). The noose is already tied; the SS man watches the prisoner's reaction with disdain. Behind him the grinning of an aide – a recurring motif in these linocuts.

The painter and graphic artist Clément Moreau dedicates a series to the libertarian writer Erich Mühsam and his wife Zensel. On the night from the 9th to the 10th of July, 1934, Erich Mühsam was ordered to kill himself at the Oranienburg concentration camp. When he refused to do so, he was murdered. As a young man, Clément Moreau was a neighbour and friend of the couple in Dorchläuchtingstrasse in Berlin.

Thomas Miller, Stiftung Clément Moreau, Zürich

Gallery

Linocut: Clément Moreau: Nacht über Deutschland [Night over Germany] Fig. 1
Linocut: Clément Moreau: Nacht über Deutschland [Night over Germany] Fig. 9
Linocut: Clément Moreau: Nacht über Deutschland [Night over Germany] fig. 34
Linocut: Clément Moreau: Nacht über Deutschland [Night over Germany] fig. 38
Linocut: Clément Moreau: Nacht über Deutschland [Night over Germany] fig. 53
Linocut: Clément Moreau: Nacht über Deutschland [Night over Germany] fig. 78