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7pm ET (NYC time)
Monday, April 20, 2026
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
In times of uncertainty and calamity, the danse macabre, or dance of death, has resurrected in art again and again over the past centuries. It dates back to the 15th century in Europe, with images of people dancing with skeletons or cadavers draped with fetid flesh depicted in murals and woodcuts. Tinged with macabre humor, the dance of death brought together people from across social classes in a reminder of the fate we all share, despite whatever power or wealth we might grasp.
Today, in our own moment shadowed by death and violence, this medieval tradition continues to resonate. This talk will focus on how the dance of death has been reinterpreted by artists, particularly printmakers who dispersed it across the globe, drawing on arts writer Allison C. Meier's extensive research into the subject. From Hans Holbein's playful mocking of the elite to Alfred Rethel's 19th-century meditations on cholera, to haunting etchings of World War II by Percy Smith, this mortal dance has persisted in our visual culture. And still now, its bony hand beckons us to join in its endless waltz as artists find new ways to interpret it in the 21st century.
Allison C. Meier is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and researcher. She is the author of 'Grave' (Bloomsbury, 2023) and has contributed articles on art and culture to numerous publications including the Art Newspaper, Apollo, Hyperallergic, the New York Times, National Geographic, and more. She moonlights as a cemetery tour guide in New York City burial grounds.
7pm ET (NYC time)
Monday, April 20, 2026
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
In times of uncertainty and calamity, the danse macabre, or dance of death, has resurrected in art again and again over the past centuries. It dates back to the 15th century in Europe, with images of people dancing with skeletons or cadavers draped with fetid flesh depicted in murals and woodcuts. Tinged with macabre humor, the dance of death brought together people from across social classes in a reminder of the fate we all share, despite whatever power or wealth we might grasp.
Today, in our own moment shadowed by death and violence, this medieval tradition continues to resonate. This talk will focus on how the dance of death has been reinterpreted by artists, particularly printmakers who dispersed it across the globe, drawing on arts writer Allison C. Meier's extensive research into the subject. From Hans Holbein's playful mocking of the elite to Alfred Rethel's 19th-century meditations on cholera, to haunting etchings of World War II by Percy Smith, this mortal dance has persisted in our visual culture. And still now, its bony hand beckons us to join in its endless waltz as artists find new ways to interpret it in the 21st century.
Allison C. Meier is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and researcher. She is the author of 'Grave' (Bloomsbury, 2023) and has contributed articles on art and culture to numerous publications including the Art Newspaper, Apollo, Hyperallergic, the New York Times, National Geographic, and more. She moonlights as a cemetery tour guide in New York City burial grounds.