The Quick & the Dead II, 1965
The Mystique Scene, 1965

Through the initiative Perlensucher am Museum Ludwig, two etchings by Betye Saar were acquired parallel to the purchase of the assemblage The Divine Face in connection with the 2020 Wolfgang Hahn Prize. In the etching The Quick and the Dead II (1965), two depictions of bulls are juxtaposed. Betye Saar quotes the King James Bible in the title of the work: “Specifically it warns that those who sin, both the quick and the dead, will be judged by Jesus Christ. In other words, it implies that God is able to act on the sins of a person whether that person is alive [quick] or has passed afterlife [dead].” Tarus, the bull on the left, stands for life, the paper advertisement for cuts of beef from the butcher for death. In the etching The Mystique Scene (1965), a mystical city is depicted, spanned by an arch of moons, with suns and faces creating a mysterious overall impression.