Disabled Workers

Prints and Drawings

1922

Conrad Felixmüller
German, 1897-1977

Although created several years after the end of World War I, this drawing shows that workers engaged in war production were as vulnerable to serious hazards and death as the soldiers at the front. The mine workers, with their bandaged arms, are set against the soot-lined streets of a town in the industrial Ruhr Valley. The work effectively demonstrates the cruelty and senselessness of the war as a society-wide phenomenon.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Conrad Felixmüller
Title: Disabled Workers
Place: Germany (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1922
Medium: Brush and pen and black ink on cream laid paper
Inscriptions: Signed and dated lower right: “Felixmüller 1922”; inscribed lower center: “Arbeitsinvaliden”; signed, dated, and inscribed verso: “Felixmüller 1922 Invalide Bergarbeiter”
Dimensions: 64.6 × 50 cm (25 7/16 × 19 11/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Reference Number: 2013.937

Hellmuth Heinz, Conrad Felixmüller: Gezeichnetes Menschenbild (Dresden, 1958), n.p., pl. 18.
Elizabeth M. Grady, “Politik und Polemik: Die Rolle der Felixmüller-Ausstellungim Rahmen der Politisierung der Nationalgalerie,” in Conrad Felixmüller: Strudelnd im Strom der Zeit Graphische Arbeiten (Bonn, 2001), p. 99 (ill.).
Antje Birthälmer, “Reise ins Ruhrgebiet. Arbeiterleben,” in Conrad Felixmüller: die Dresdner Jahre Aquarelle und Zeichungen 1912-1933 (Köln, 1997), p. 50 (ill.).

Düsseldorf, Graphik-Salon Gerhart Söhn, “Conrad Felixmüller, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Graphik,” May 21–Aug. 30, 1977, cat. 19.
Schleswig, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloß Gottorf Schleswig, ”Conrad Felixmüller,” Apr. 1–June 17, 1990, cat. 128, pp. 200 (ill.) and 273; also the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Sept. 8–Oct. 28, 1990; the Kunstverein Braunschweig, Nov. 11, 1990–Jan. 13, 1991, and the Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg Halle, Feb. 24–Apr. 7, 1991.
Otto Dix Haus Hemmenhofen, “Conrad Felixmüller: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, und Druckgraphik,” Sept. 18–Nov. 21, 1993, cat. 6, n.p.
London, Courtauld Galleries, “Conrad Felixmüller 1897–1977: Works on Paper,” Sept.–Oct. 1994, cat. 24, p. 47.
Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, “Conrad Felixmüller: Die Dresdner Jahre, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen,” May 11–June 22, 1997, pp. 50 (ill.), and 125, cat. 58; also Altenburg, Lindenau-Museum, Aug. 10–Oct. 5, 1997.
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Thrill of the Chase: Drawings for the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection,” Mar. 15-June 15, 2014, no cat.

The artist to his son, Titus Felixmüller (born 1920), Germany [London 1994 exh. cat.]; sold, Christie’s, London, Oct. 7, 1999, lot 183, to a private collector; sold, Christie’s, London, Feb. 10, 2005, lot 658, to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, MA; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2013.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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