Title
Im Baraklager bei Nikolsburg: "Gruppe von Fluchtlingslingen" (A Group of Refugees)
Artist
Year
1914 /15
Technique
drypoint
Image Size
4 9/16 x 5 7/16" platemark
Signature
pencil, lower right
Edition Size
33 of 75
Annotations
pencil titled, lower margin; red F.P.C. (Friedl Pollak Collection) stamp in lower left sheet corner.
Reference
Paper
buff wove hemp based paper.
State
published
Publisher
Kunstverlag Hugo Heller, Vienna, Austria.
Inventory ID
22690
Price
SOLD
Description
From the spring of 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Empire found itself fighting on three distinct fronts: Russia, Serbia, and Italy. The majority of the border regions were therefore absorbed into the so-called “war zone.” Moreover, between 1914 and 1915, vast portions of Habsburg territory had been invaded. The population was on the move. A refugee barracks that housed around 4000 Galician Jews was established in Nikolsburg (Mikulov), Moravia in poor conditions that included an epidemic of measles. As an "official" government artist Pollak had free access to the camp and, in 1914, recorded it in a series of small drypoints, which were published in 1915 in a portfolio titled "Im Barackenlager Nikolsburg" (In the Barrack Camp at Nikolsburg). In this image, Pollak depicts the silent and somber atmosphere of a life in constant upheaval and uncertainty, with figures huddled separately beneath blankets in quiet isolation.