The Seventh Seal/ Det Sjunde Inseglet

The Seventh Seal/ Det Sjunde Inseglet

This was something I've just done for a zine being put together by good friend and great illustrator/ printmaker Mat Pringle.
Mat asked a number of artists, including my good self, to contribute an image showing, or inspired by, their favourite film - I chose Ingmar Bergman's 1957 classic The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet). No, its NOT Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey!

Here I have shown the returning and world-weary crusader Antonius Block (an unfeasibly blond Max Von Sydow) confronting the black-cloaked figure of Death (Döden in Swedish), played with great menace and humour by Bengt Ekerot. Block challenges the Grim Reaper to a game. "You play chess, do you not?" inquires the Knight. Death replies "How do you know that?"

I don't often work in just black & white, but I think it both mirrors the film and conveys well its stark supernatural message.