Max Pechstein - Our Father

Our Father is a woodcut by Max Pechstein that visualizes the Christian Lord's Prayer through the bold, angular visual language of German Expressionism. The work merges devotional subject matter with the raw, simplified forms that defined early 20th-century Expressionist printmaking.

Max Pechstein was a founding member of Die Brücke (The Bridge), the influential German Expressionist group formed in Dresden in 1905. His work, including Our Father, reflects the movement's emphasis on emotional intensity, simplified forms, and the revival of woodcut as a direct expressive medium.

Pechstein produced religiously themed woodcuts that may have been intended as a portfolio or series related to the Lord's Prayer, consistent with the Expressionist practice of presenting interconnected works together. Die Brücke artists frequently published print portfolios as collective statements.

Our Father uses the rough-hewn, high-contrast black-and-white aesthetic typical of Expressionist woodcuts, deliberately rejecting the refined detail of academic art in favor of spiritual immediacy. The simplified figures and dramatic compositions echo the medieval German woodcut tradition that Expressionists revived as a model of direct, emotional communication.