1915

In this four-color lithograph, sculpted and depersonalized machinelike bodies charge forward with unfettered vigor. The blunt, angular rendering of their hands make their flesh appear solid and inviolable, while their collective formation mimics the force and symmetry of an engine. The effacement of these soldiers’ features renders their faces impenetrable and their assault terrifying. Here, even while not depicting the actual mechanisms of modern warfare, Albin Egger-Lienz poignantly evoked the brutal dehumanization of the first industrialized war in history.