
Wolf and Goat Fire Screen
<p>William Hunt Diedrich consistently sought to capture dynamic imagery in his works, most often through compositions featuring animals engaged in combat or play. This fire screen represents one of the artist’s most powerful realizations of this goal. Against a finely wrought background of wire mesh, a cut-steel wolf and goat are entwined in a circular dance of death. The jagged edges of the animals’ tails and fur not only add to the malevolence of their combat but also function as the tabs that attach the silhouettes to the screen. The wavelike rhythm of the screen adds to the dramatic impression of continuous movement.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1917
- Dimensions
- 85.1 × 113.7 × 27 cm (33 1/2 × 44 3/4 × 10 5/8 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Wilhelm Hunt Diederich
Artist

Sculpture
Wilhelm Hunt Diederich was an American sculptor whose wrought iron and bronze works combined Art Deco geometry with animal and figurative forms rendered in bold, linear silhouettes. Working primarily in the early twentieth century, his sculptures transformed decorative metalwork into a vehicle for modernist formal invention. His work appeared in major institutional surveys at MoMA during the 1930s, establishing him as a significant figure in American modernism between the wars.
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More by Wilhelm Hunt Diederich
Panel
1924 · Cotton, alternating float weave, embroidered with cotton in cross-stitches
Sleeping Dog Facing Left, Head in Profile Facing Right (recto); Sleeping Dog Facing Left, in Profile (verso)
1904 · Graphite on ivory wove paper
Sleeping Dog Facing Left, Frontal View of Head
1904 · Graphite on ivory wove paper
Sleeping Dog Facing Right
1904 · Graphite on ivory wove paper
Bullfight
1904 · Charcoal, with red and yellow pastel, on tan wove paper
Standing Dog
1904 · Graphite on ivory wove paper
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Wilhelm Hunt Diederich
- Year
- 1917
- Dimensions
- 85.1 × 113.7 × 27 cm (33 1/2 × 44 3/4 × 10 5/8 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1917-126267
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





