War is depicted as a massive giant poised above a mountain of skeletons, ending life with a sledgehammer blow. Barlach’s title looks back to the medieval theme ‘A Dance of Death’ in which living and dead both join a procession or dance, portraying…

Page from Der Bildermann 1, No. 16 (1916), recto Resurrectio Poloniae by August Gaul. Printed by Paul Cassirer.

Page from Der Bildermann 1, No. 1 (1916), verso Symbole der Zeit I by Max Slevogt. Printed by Paul Cassirer.

Page from Der Bildermann 1, No. 13 (1916), recto Auf Urlaub by Heinrich Zille. Printed by Paul Cassirer.

Title page of Der Bildermann 1, No. 14 (1916), verso Wenns so weiter geht... by August Gaul. Barlach wrote in his diary: “Today I sent a drawing to Der Bildermann - Christ is led by the Devil on to a mountain and shown the kingdoms of the world and…

Title page from Der Bildermann 1, No. 18 (1916), verso Weihnacht by August Gaul. Give us Peace, (Dona Nobis Pacem), from the Agnus Dei in the Latin mass.  Printed in the Christmas issue, a sorrowing Madonna ‘clothed with the sun’ floats high above…

This is an illustration to a poem by Christian Morgenstern 'We Have Found a Path'. Page from Der Bildermann 1, No. 7 supplement (1916). Printed by Paul Cassirer.

Heinrich Simon was Editor-in-Chief of the Frankfurter Zeitung, a liberal and democratic newspaper free of party influence. The paper championed modern art, poetry and drama. In 1931, he said: “It is good to remember that time in which the advocates…

Plate 2 of The Fair, a series of ten drypoints published by Maier-Graefe and Reinhard Piper in 1922. In a cramped interior, two performers apply their make-up, having to share the same tiny table and mirror. The expressions are a mixture of…

No 2. of the “Ganymed-Mappe” portfolio of prints by German artists, published in 1922. Beckmann moves away from the sharper, cynical view of the world seen in many of his other prints, to show a softer side. The dancing couple, typical of thousands…