Rudolf Nehmer (1912-1983), Blessed Are The Peacemakers, 1948

Rudolf Nehmer (1912 Bobersberg - 1983 Dresden), Blessed are the peacemakers, 1948. Woodcut on yellowish wove paper, 18 cm x 15.5 cm (image), 45 cm x 30 cm (sheet size), signed “Rud.[olf] Nehmer” in pencil lower right and inscribed “Matth. 5,9” lower left.

- The wide sheet margin somewhat wavy in places, the image in excellent, vibrant condition.

- Dehumanization -

This woodcut is part of Nehmer's most famous series, his pictorial interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount (Matth. 5,1-7,29), created shortly after the end of World War II. The print illustrates the beatitude: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God (Mt 5:9).

The two opponents are disfigured in their humanity by the fight. The smaller man's head is unrecognizable except for his disheveled hair, while the larger man's mouth is covered and his physiognomy distorted. Another man approaches the brawlers and stops them with a gentle yet firm gesture, raising the question of whether such behavior is worthy of God's creatures.

About the artist

Rudolf Nehmer studied from 1932 to 1934 in Dresden at the private art academy founded by Ernst Oskar Simonson-Castelli under Woldemar Winkler and, after a brief interlude at the art academy, was a student in Willy Kriegel's studio until 1936. After his first one-man show in 1935 at the Kühl Art Exhibition in Dresden, which was progressive until the Nazi era, Nehmer was represented at the major German art exhibitions in the following years. In 1938 he stayed in Worpswede. From 1941 he was a soldier on the Western Front and in Denmark, returning to Dresden from British captivity in 1945. After the war, he had his first solo exhibition in 1945. Nehmer was a co-founder of the artists' association 'Das Ufer - Gruppe 1947' and in 1951 a founding member of the artists' cooperative 'Kunst und Zeit'. He had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the GDR, culminating in a retrospective at the Galerie Neuer Meister on the occasion of his 60th birthday.