The Lord's Prayer, sheet 5 - Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread (Das Vaterunser - Unser täglich Brot gieb uns heute)

Accession Number
1948/1.427

Title
The Lord's Prayer, sheet 5 - Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread (Das Vaterunser - Unser täglich Brot gieb uns heute)

Artist(s)
Max Pechstein

Object Creation Date
1921

Medium & Support
woodcut with hand-coloring on paper

Dimensions
23 ½ in x 16 ¼ in (59.69 cm x 41.28 cm);28 ⅛ in x 22 in (71.44 cm x 55.88 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
Pechstein's "The Lord's Prayer" series of woodcuts mixes the text of the prayer with images of human wretchedness and spiritual need that draw on the Christian tradition to comment directly on the suffering and despair experienced by many Germans in the aftermath of the First World War and the economic crisis that followed.
This sheet depicts men praying before their meager meal. Their poses and expressions suggest thankfulness paired with a sense of desperatation.

Physical Description
Four men in plain, dark clothing sit, with hands folded in prayer, around a rectangular table, in the center of which is a fish on an oval platter. The man at the far end has his eyes closed. The other three raise their faces to heaven.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Expressionism
Expressionist (style)
Fish
food
men (male humans)
modern and contemporary art
portfolios (groups of works)
prayers (documents)
praying
sitting
woodcuts (prints)

& Author Notes

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