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Gerd Arntz. Bürgerkrieg, 1928/78
“In 1928 Arntz published some of his most propagandistic woodcuts in Die Proletarische Revolution (The Proletarian Revolution), the magazine of the before-mentioned council communist General Workers Union, Unit Organization. That same year, Neurath invited Arntz to Vienna for a few months. One of the things he took with him was the woodblock for the large print Bürgerkrieg (Civil War) which he finished in Vienna. This may be considered the conclusion of his Düsseldorf period and a retrospective summary of the events in Germany between 1918 and 1923, especially in the Ruhr area. On the lower left-hand side the reactionary people are represented by elegant women, a priest blessing the battle; in the centre we see a painter who doesn’t care about what is going on; above that leaders of political parties soothe the masses; on the lower right-hand side a rape by soldiers is depicted and above that the revolutionaries clearly losing the battle against the standing army that has a tank at its disposal.”
Flip Bool. Gerd Arntz - Graphic Work 1920-1940: Lecture held at the Na Shabolovke Gallery Moscow, 16 December 2018. http://www.designhistory.nl/2019/gerd-arntz-graphic-work-1920-1940/