Fritz Eichenberg

(1901-1990)

Fritz Eichenberg liked to point out that his German last name meant “oak mountain,” as if this, somehow, explained his extraordinary mastery of the medium of wood engraving. In a creative lifetime dedicated to graphics, Eichenberg occasionally experimented with lithographs and linocuts but always felt most inspired with a graver in hand, creating meticulous white-line prints from wooden panels, preferably, made from endgrain boxwood.

He was a visual artist whose work was inextricably bound up with words in hundreds of illustrations for books and periodicals. In a 1976 self-portrait titled Dream of Reason, the artist sleeps over an open volume, engraving tool in hand, while the ghosts of all the authors whose writings he illustrated--Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Desiderius Erasmus, Charlotte Bronte, Edgar Allen Poe, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev--peer expectantly over his shoulder.

As a student of Russian Literature, I came to know Eichenberg’s art long before I knew anything about the artist, discovering his marvelous prints in the pages of classic 19th Century Russian novels like Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment , The Brothers Karamazov, and The Possessed, or Tolstoy’s Resurrection. Eichenberg had this uncanny ability to pin down the elusive Russian soul in a pictorial style, best described as expressionistic realism. The backgrounds in Eichenberg's illustrations were always full of persuasive period details, yet, the figures seemed wonderfully theatrical and dramatically highlighted. Their faces had the ascetic beauty of icons.

I was not surprised to learn Eichenberg was a man of faith, who described art in sacramental terms as the “outward sign of inward grace.” In 1935, he created a charming image of St. Francis Preaching to the Birds from a high-altitude balloon, printed by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), a U.S. government program, supporting Depression Era artists. In the mid-1950s, he produced a suite of Ten Wood Engravings for the Old Testament. In 1972, he created a folio of prints based on In Praise of Folly, a 16th century satirical work by Christian Humanist Eramus, poking fun at human vanity and corruption in the Medieval Church.

A shared love for Dostoyevsky drew Eichenberg, a German Jewish convert to Quakerism, into a unique creative partnership with Roman Catholic Social Activist Dorothy Day, a meeting of kindred minds, uniting image-making and social conscience in ways, which have immeasurably enriched and democratized contemporary sacred art.

During a forty year period, beginning in 1949, Eichenberg contributed over 100 illustrations to Day’s banner publication, The Catholic Worker, more than fulfilling her hopes that the spirit of the newspaper’s editorial content could be communicated through accompanying images to Day’s friends and supporters who had trouble reading the texts.

There are three original wood engravings used as Catholic Worker illustrations in my collection, Pieta, The Prodigal Son, and The Year of the Child, as well as a series of print reproductions, including Eichenberg's The Christ of the Breadlines and The Christ of the Homeless. Two iconic images for modern times!

« previous next »
click to enlarge
Dream of Reason
Dream of Reason
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
32 x 18 cm.

Dream of Reason

Crime & Punishment II
Crime & Punishment II
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
14.5 x 11 cm.
From Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Heritage Press: 1938):

Crime & Punishment II

Crime & Punishment I
Crime & Punishment I
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
19 x 13 cm.
From Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Heritage Press: 1938)

Crime & Punishment I

Brothers Karamazov I
Brothers Karamazov I
Fritz Eichenberg
Lithograph
22 x 16.5 cm.
From The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (The Limited Edition Club: 1949)

Brothers Karamazov I

The Brothers Karamazov II
The Brothers Karamazov II
Fritz Eichenberg
Lithograph
22 x 16.5 cm.
From The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (The Limited Edition Club: 1949)

The Brothers Karamazov II

The Possessed
The Possessed
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
38 x 25 cm.

The Possessed

Resurrection I
Resurrection I
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
21 x 15 cm.
From Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy (The Limited Edition Club: 1963)

Resurrection I

Resurrection I
Resurrection I
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
21 x 15 cm.
From Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy (Limited Club Edition, 1963)

Resurrection I

Preaching to the Birds (1935)
Preaching to the Birds (1935)
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
20 x 15 cm.

Preaching to the Birds (1935)

The First Seven Days
The First Seven Days
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
31 x 15.5 cm.
From Ten Wood Engravings for the Old Testament

The First Seven Days

And Their Eyes Were Opened
And Their Eyes Were Opened
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
31x 15.5 cm.
From Ten Wood Engravings for the Old Testament

And Their Eyes Were Opened

The Book of Job
The Book of Job
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
31 x 15.5 cm.
From Ten Wood Engravings for the Old Testament

The Book of Job

The Book of Jonah
The Book of Jonah
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
31 x 15.5 cm.
From Ten Wood Engravings for the Old Testament

The Book of Jonah

The Lamentations of Jeremiah
The Lamentations of Jeremiah
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
31 x 15.5 cm.
From Ten Wood Engravings for the Old Testament

The Lamentations of Jeremiah

III. The Follies of Worshipping Idols
III. The Follies of Worshipping Idols
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
45.5 x 30.5 cm.
From In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Eramus (Aquarius Press, N.Y. & Baltimore: 1972)

III. The Follies of Worshipping Idols

VI: The Follies of the Monks
VI: The Follies of the Monks
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
45.5 x 30.5 cm.

VI: The Follies of the Monks

IX: The Follies of the Popes
IX: The Follies of the Popes
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
45.5 x 30.5 cm.
From In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Eramus (Aquarius Press, N.Y. & Baltimore: 1972)

IX: The Follies of the Popes

Pieta
Pieta
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
13 x 12 cm.

Pieta

The Prodigal Son
The Prodigal Son
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
20.5 x 15 cm.

The Prodigal Son

The Year of the Child
The Year of the Child
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
20.5 x 15 cm.

The Year of the Child

The Light (1940)
The Light (1940)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
23.5 x 18 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

The Light (1940)

The Christ of the Breadlines (1950)
The Christ of the Breadlines (1950)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
16.5 x 32.5 cm.
From The Catholic Worker Portfolio

The Christ of the Breadlines (1950)

Nativity (1950)
Nativity (1950)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
24 x 16 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

Nativity (1950)

The Lord
The Lord's Supper (1951)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
26 x 20 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

The Lord's Supper (1951)

The Long Loneliness (1952)
The Long Loneliness (1952)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
25 x 19.5
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

The Long Loneliness (1952)

Joan of Arc (1953)
Joan of Arc (1953)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
25 x 14.5 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

Joan of Arc (1953)

The Labor Cross (1954)
The Labor Cross (1954)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
33 x 26 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

The Labor Cross (1954)

The Lamentations of Jeremiah (1960)
The Lamentations of Jeremiah (1960)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
28 x 17 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

The Lamentations of Jeremiah (1960)

The Black Crucifixion (1963)
The Black Crucifixion (1963)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
19 x 19 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

The Black Crucifixion (1963)

Sermon to the Birds (1964)
Sermon to the Birds (1964)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
29 x 19 cm.
From the Catholic Worker portfolio

Sermon to the Birds (1964)

Isaiah 11 (1976)
Isaiah 11 (1976)
Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving
21.5 x 15 cm.

Isaiah 11 (1976)

The Christ of the Homeless (1982)
The Christ of the Homeless (1982)
Fritz Eichenberg
Print reproduction
20.5 x 20 cm.
From The Catholic Worker portfolio

The Christ of the Homeless (1982)

Sacred Art Pilgrim: Recovering a lost way of looking
  • John Kohan’s Pilgrimage
    • One Pilgrim’s Progress
    • The Journey in Art
  • Sacred Artists
  • Schools of Sacred Art
  • What’s New
  • In the Media
  • Sacred Art Meditations
  • Email John Kohan
  • Site Map
  • Site Credits
  • Related Links
  • Home