Portrait of an Old Woman (Porträt einer Greisin)

1920

In the drypoint process, the image is carved directly into the copper plate, which leaves a rough raised edge, or burr, along the lines that creates a fuzzy quality. For his sensitive portrayal of an elderly woman, Ludwig Meidner chose this technique to emphasize the topography of her face, from the bold line of her mouth to her deep-set eyes.

German Expressionist prints, including this drypoint, first entered the Brooklyn Museum collection in 1937. Brooklyn was among the first major American museums to acquire such work, a bold move during a period when anti-German sentiment ran high in the United States. It was also in 1937 that the Nazis condemned artists such as Meidner in their Degenerate Art exhibition in Germany.