Fred Wurlitzer

Albrecht Durer's The Crucifixion Fred Wurlitzer

Albrecht Dürer (1471 -1528) was a prodigious German painter and etcher who stood at the height of his prowess around the year 1500. Dürer resorted primarily to the simplicity of woodcuts rather than colored paintings to fully express his love for Christ. It is Dürer's depictions of the Crucifixion that I find especially appealing. Several of the Dürer Crucifixion woodcuts have an extraordinary depth of black and white. There can be a chiaroscuro effect, often from the closeness of his etched lines, giving a three-dimensional quality to his representations. Alternatively, some of his Crucifixion woodcuts are elegantly simple. In considering whether lithographs, woodcuts, or colored paintings by other artists might be included for portraying the Crucifixion, I decided there were no depictions better and more loving than those of Dürer's twelve Crucifixion woodcuts. It is these portrayals that I chose for a modern, medieval-like comic book for adults in the style of Dürer's Passions. I added simple Medieval-like quatrain verses in sympathy with the renditions. I find the Dürer woodcuts of the Crucifixion beautiful. I want to share that beauty with you.