Who painted Peter with a Gunshot Wound in His Forehead?

Peter with a Gunshot Wound in His Forehead was painted by Walter Gramatté in 1918.

Where can I see Peter with a Gunshot Wound in His Forehead?

Peter with a Gunshot Wound in His Forehead is held by National Gallery of Art.

Artwork

Peter with a Gunshot Wound in His Forehead

Walter Gramatté , 1918

Peter with a Gunshot Wound in His Forehead is an ink print by Walter Gramatté. It dates from 1918 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

About this work

Overview

The work belongs to a series of intimate, psychologically charged prints in which he translated personal and collective trauma into visual form.

Walter Gramatté produced this drypoint print in 1918, during the final year of the First World War. The work belongs to a series of intimate, psychologically charged prints in which he translated personal and collective trauma into visual form. Using the drypoint technique, he rendered a single figure with intense focus, emphasizing physical and emotional distress through fine, incised lines and tonal contrasts.

Subject & Meaning

The figure depicted is a man bearing a gunshot wound to the forehead, his face rendered with quiet realism. There is no overt narrative context—no weapon, no setting—only the head and shoulders, frozen in a moment between life and death. The wound becomes a symbol of indiscriminate violence, echoing Gramatté’s own wartime suffering and the broader disillusionment of his generation.

Technique & Style

Drypoint allowed Gramatté to achieve dense, velvety blacks and delicate gradations of gray through burr and fine scratching. The texture of skin, hair, and the wound’s edges are built up with layered, irregular lines, creating a tactile immediacy. The monochrome palette heightens the somber mood, while the close cropping isolates the figure, forcing attention on the vulnerability of the human face.

History & Provenance

Created in 1918, the print emerged from Gramatté’s time in Berlin and Hamburg, where he was recovering from illness and grappling with the war’s aftermath. It was likely produced in a small, private edition, common for expressionist printmakers. No public record of its early ownership exists, but it aligns with other works from this period that were circulated among avant-garde circles in Germany.

Context

Gramatté’s work in this period reflects the broader German Expressionist preoccupation with inner turmoil and bodily fragility. While contemporaries like Dix and Grosz depicted war’s brutality through satire or chaos, Gramatté favored stillness and introspection. His imagery, often influenced by mysticism and personal suffering, offered a quieter but no less potent commentary on the human cost of conflict.

Legacy

Though less widely known than some of his peers, Gramatté’s prints from this era are recognized for their emotional precision and technical subtlety. 'Peter with a Gunshot Wound in His Forehead' remains a key example of how printmaking could convey psychological depth in the face of societal collapse. It continues to be studied for its fusion of realism and symbolic resonance within early 20th-century German art.