Accession Number
1948/1.430

Title
The Lord's Prayer, sheet 8 - And Lead Us Not into Temptation (Das Vaterunser - Und führe uns nicht in Versuchung)

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 shows a man and woman, meant to represent Adam and Eve, struggling with one another, a visual metaphor suggesting bodily temptation, while menaced by a snake, a fox, and a figure that is executed to look like a mythical figure from a non-western culture.

Physical Description
A nude man and woman at center struggle with one another; a snake and a seated figure are visible in the background. The two central figures with intertwined limbs suggesting a struggle are positioned above a sharp-toothed mammal resembling a fox.

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
Animals
Expressionism
Expressionist (style)
couples
fighting
modern and contemporary art
portfolios (groups of works)
prayers (documents)
woodcuts (prints)