Albrecht Dürer at the Städl

I visited the Albrecht Dürer exhibition at the Städl in Frankfurt today. An exhibition solely devoted to his engravings and woodcuts. I had never seen these masterpieces in such a comprehensive exhibition and with the possibility to take in the details that are in these woodcuts and engravings (most of the details are lost in reproductions in books and in online publications). Since the works - most of them are over 500 years old - are pretty sensitive to light, they cannot be exhibited that often without causing harm to them. So it was a real treat to be able to have a closer look at these works today. Some of them have become part of what established Dürer‘s fame. What is more, some of the works are also so well known that they spring to our minds immediately when we think of woodcuts and engravings generically.

Obviously Dürer’s works are cram-full with (Christian) symbolism and the medieval world outlook, so that not all symbols can be fully understood today.

What struck me most today in these engravings were the many references to the impermanence of all beings, to the evanescence of man and the very finite time we have in this world. Most of his works contain some reference to the memento mori idea, be it an in the face skull or the depiction of the devil or slightly more subtle references such as an hourglass or an illustration of Nemesis… Dürer must have felt quite strongly that he battles against time in tapping his full potential as an artist. Often this kind of symbolism is combined in his works with the idea of each individual’s responsibility to create his/her own destiny, to ‘make it happen’ as one would term it today… Carpe diem!