On ʻDeath in the Iller’, 1959

About the Work

In the spring of 1957, an accident took place in the Iller River, a tributary of the Danube in Allgäu: Fifteen German army recruits drowned to death in the rain-swollen rapids. The washed pen-and-ink drawing depicts a demonic, partially masked rescue crew carrying a corpse on a stretcher. Tübke depicted the figure of the corpse bearer at the centre in mannered, elongated fashion as a haunting symbol of grief and powerlessness.