At the Window II (c. 1923): Art, History and Details

At the Window II (c. 1923) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Karl Hofer (German, 1878–1955).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Windows appear frequently throughout the work of Karl Hofer, who created nearly 300 prints. Dating from a period that Hofer spent in his native Germany between the First and Second World Wars, this lithograph reflects the anxiety and chaos that characterized the country during that time. Figures with masklike faces crowd the space of an interior without interacting. It remains unclear whether they block the view to the outside world that the window would otherwise provide or are instead viewed from a building’s exterior. Enhanced by the jagged, sketchy lines used to render the figures, the composition conveys a sense of alienation and unease.

Object facts

• Title: At the Window II
• Date: c. 1923
• Creator attribution: Karl Hofer (German, 1878–1955)
• Culture: Germany, 20th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: lithograph
• Dimensions: Image: 20.2 x 14.3 cm (7 15/16 x 5 5/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lithograph
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1931.269

A detail from the museum

Just over a decade after this print was made, Karl Hofer was labeled a "Degenerate Artist" by the National Socialists and his works were removed from German museums.

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Further reading listed by the museum

• L. E. P. "International Competitive Print Exhibition." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 18, no. 4 (1931): 62-64.
• Catalogue of an exhibition of the art of lithography: commemorating the sesquicentennial of its invention, 1798-1948. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1948. Published as: At the Window.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.