Dona Nobis Pacem! (Give Us Peace!)
Ernst Barlach German
Printer Pan-Presse, Berlin German
Publisher Paul Cassirer
Not on view
Barlach’s call for peace was published on the cover of the December 1916 issue of the art journal Der Bildermann (The Picture Man). The image shows a mournful Madonna with hands clutched in a prayer for peace; the seven swords symbolize her sorrows as well as those inflected by the war, making her representative of all grieving mothers. Like many of his generation, the artist initially welcomed war. He expressed his enthusiasm through his art and by serving—first as a medic and then briefly in the infantry before a medical discharge in early 1916. After his experience of combat and wartime devastation, Barlach adopted a fervently antiwar stance, which he explored in his art.
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