Helmut Andreas Paul GRIESHABER - Totentanz von Basel / Basler Dance of Death

Portfolio of 40 original colour woodblock prints on Kochi Japan paper. Mostly 45 x 35 cm (67 x 52 cm). Each signed. – In original linen portfolio, printed in colour, numbered in the colophon. Each print individually (dust sealed) framed. Acquired directly from the artist, by descent to the current owner. Location: South West Germany.

The “Totentanz von Basel” (Basler Dance of Death) is one of Grieshaber's best-known series of woodcuts. Thematically it deals with the revival of a visual tradition handed down since the Middle
Ages: The starting point for the present graphic work was the “Dance of  Death” on the graveyard wall of the Dominican abbey in Basle, created in the mid 15th century. Merian recorded the later destroyed work in
engravings in 1621.