Killing Pace

E. Pryson, an artist that is little known, has created a lithography that echoes vanitas and momento mori (motifs often seen in Western art). The symbol for vanitas is a skull and the dominant placement of a skull driving the two individuals to a clear destiny is telling. Vanitas symbolizes the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldly desires. The gentleman driving the automobile is more interested in drinking his champagne than in driving his automobile and paying attention to the road. The lady sitting next to him is also clearly too intoxicated to care. The lithography suggests that this could well be their final joyous ride in the living world. Momento mori is a Latin phrase that literally means “remember you must die” and the title of the lithography “Killing Pace” clearly hints at their future. The lithography was produced by the Continental Coloring Company of Chicago and clearly foretells the hazards of drinking behind the wheel of an automobile. The lithography has an interesting black frame with a red ribbon that seems to echo a funeral card. It was custom made by the Keiser Art Studio in Chicago.