When I look at the image of Hans Holbein* I think of two different literary characters: the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, who wants nothing more than a heart. The other is the Steadfast Tin Soldier who braves all dangers to reach his coveted love and yet is ultimately thrown into the fire where he melts into a heart-shaped lump.

 

To defend oneself against the symbolic figure of death that seizes one, is on the threshold of no longer completely giving in to this idea of an image, resisting its destined path. The figure defends itself against the attacker, who only thereby becomes real. In the intertwining of the two armored figures, a twisted form is created that results in a stalemate. As both simultaneously strike each other down, they appear frozen (as if in a pillar of salt), crystallized in the moment of complete physical entanglement. As they kill each other, they also seem to give each other support. Perhaps this is how they find comfort in their togetherness, frozen in the moment, outlasting place and time.

 

*Drawing after „Bilder des Todes“, Hans Holbein d. J., woodcut, The Knight, 1512

 

                                                                                                                                                      – Lorenz Liebig