Henry Hinsch (1909-1979), Joseph's Dream, 1949

Henry Hinsch (1909 Nikolaev - 1979 Göttingen), Joseph's Dream, 1949. Woodcut on handmade paper, 33 cm x 15 cm (image), 45 cm x 27.5 cm (sheet size), signed “H.[enry] Hinsch” in pencil lower right and dated “[19]49”.

- Paper trimmed diagonally at the upper edge, with losses at the lower edge and somewhat bumped at the corners, occasionally dusty.

- The resurrection from the downfall -

Henry Hinsch's woodcut belongs to the immediate post-war art, which attempts to reflect the catastrophic horror through a new religious art and thereby overcome it. The formal language is reminiscent of Ernst Barlach and yet the forms are much more 'cut up'. In his sleep, Joseph lies there almost like a maltreated corpse, with the expression of the folds of his robe looking like an expression of pain. In the dream, however, an angel appears from above, bathing Joseph in a very real, redeeming divine light that contrasts with the black of the night above. The angel has spread his arms wide, as if he were embracing Joseph from the divine sphere - and yet the redemption remains a dream.

About the artist

Henry Hinsch grew up in Riga. During the October Revolution, the family fled to Germany in 1917. In Stettin, he studied graphic art under Vincent Weber at the Academy of Applied Arts. On the recommendation of the director of the Hamburg Kunsthalle, Gustav Pauli, the talented Hinsch received a scholarship to the Berlin Art Academy, where he studied under Fritz Burmann from 1937 to 1939. After the end of the war, he settled in Göttingen as a freelance artist. There, together with Helmut Bönitz, he founded the artists' association 'Kreis 34' and became involved in the 'Bund Bildender Künstler (BBK)'. Study trips took him to Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium.

In 1979, the painter and sculptor was awarded the city's medal of honor.