The Prisoner (Der Gefangene)
Christian Rohlfs
European Art
Made in the aftermath of World War I, this woodcut of a man behind bars, perhaps a prisoner of war, evokes physical and psychic trauma. Christian Rohlfs’s bold, jagged lines emphasize the man’s emaciated body and the force with which he grips the bars.
Rohlfs died one year after the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, in which modern works, including his own, were exhibited by the Nazis to defame and mock the art and artists.
Rohlfs died one year after the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, in which modern works, including his own, were exhibited by the Nazis to defame and mock the art and artists.
MEDIUM
Woodcut with watercolor (hand-coloring) on wove paper
DATES
1918
DIMENSIONS
image: 25 × 19 3/4 in. (63.5 × 50.2 cm)
sheet: 26 3/8 × 22 1/4 in. (67 × 56.5 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed, "Chr. Rohlfs" lower right in pencil
COLLECTIONS
European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
65.161
CREDIT LINE
Carll H. de Silver Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Christian Rohlfs (German, 1849–1939). The Prisoner (Der Gefangene), 1918. Woodcut with watercolor (hand-coloring) on wove paper, image: 25 × 19 3/4 in. (63.5 × 50.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Carll H. de Silver Fund, 65.161 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 65.161_acetate_bw.jpg)
STATE
State II
IMAGE
overall, 65.161_acetate_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
No known copyright restrictions
This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement.
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act.
The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals.
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
![Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source" (Portrait de Mlle...E[ugénie] F[iocre]: à propos du ballet "La Source")](https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size2_sq/21.111_PS11.jpg)
![Death as Juggler (Revolution) (Tod als Jongleur [Revolution])](https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size2_sq/65.23.6_PS9.jpg)
