Klaus Hack

Preview: written before the show opened

Klaus Hack's sculptures do double duty. He carves pierced, cylindrical figures straight from a tree trunk, then inks them and rolls them across canvas, so one carved block can print a large woodcut several times over. A 2024 gallery text describes the blocks, left raw and smelling of wood and printing ink, standing beside the wide prints they made.

This retrospective covers all of it: free-standing figures, reliefs, woodcuts and drawings by the Bayreuth-born sculptor (born 1966), who chose wood early, against the trend. You get figures the museum places somewhere between surreal creatures and structural forms. Outside, the palace Christmas market sells carved wooden figures too, just smaller and holding candles.

Entry is €8, €5 reduced and free under 18, daily 11:00 to 18:00. On 3 December at 17:00 a Slow Art tour spends about an hour on a few of his works (reduced entry plus €3, register at bildung@kaethe-kollwitz.de). On 10 January, the last day, Hack talks with Dr. Josephine Gabler at 11:00.