Egon Altdorf: Poems and Images

This first edition of Egon Altdorf’s poetry in German with parallel English translations includes previously unpublished texts. Illustrated throughout with archival photographs and examples of his woodcuts, sculptures and stained glass, Poems + Images illuminates key aspects of Altdorf’s art and creative identity. Altdorf’s earliest poems, written during military service and as a prisoner of war, reflected on nature, poetry and art. Beginning a new life, post-war, as an artist, Altdorf explored how the human figure might be depicted through increasingly abstract representations. Similarly, he refined his poetry to create ‘a new, free, melodic’ language’ with ‘a simple, song-like beauty’. Presenting Altdorf’s poetry alongside his art reveals a powerfully interconnected vision shaped but not defined by war: a humanitarian outlook informed by a profound spiritual belief.