Selection day

Another of the extermination scenes shows a group of figures composed in the pattern of a triangle. At its base lie the dead, on their bodies others, shown above, are sliding down. Two people in dramatic gestures spread their arms diagonally across the axis of the composition. The drama of the scene is emphasised by a wide beam of light, falling diagonally on the group from the upper left edge of the frame. The line thickens, then gets thinner again, and the expression is strengthened by the contrasts of light and dark spots. With such an arsenal of forms used to show the highly personal theatre of death, Celnikier comes close to some of Rembrandt's engravings.

AT