What grabs the eye first in Between 3 and 4 in the Morning! (Zwischen 3 und 4 Uhr Fruh!) is not the music, but the sheer contortion of the musicians themselves. Here, Moriz Jung bends and stretches his violinists into almost grotesque caricature, their faces wrung with exhaustion or perhaps delirium, their bodies twisted into impossible angles. The yellow background blares like a sleepless dawn, flattening space and forcing the figures forward, while the stark black and white of their tuxedos turns their forms into jagged silhouettes.

Every hand is a claw, every gesture exaggerated, as if the act of playing has become a battle with the night itself. The image is a performance of fatigue, the hour pressing in on the players as much as the music does. Created in 1911, this print belongs to a moment when artists across Europe were pushing the boundaries of form and satire, often through the medium of the illustrated magazine or poster. In Vienna, where Jung was active, the Wiener Werkstätte and other avant-garde circles championed bold graphics and biting humor, making works like this both decoration and social commentary.

Such prints were often commissioned for journals or as collectible art cards, circulating widely and bringing a jolt of modernity into everyday life. History has kept few traces of this particular image’s journey, but its presence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection today is a testament to the enduring energy of early twentieth-century printmaking. Look again at those violinists—are they playing, or are they simply trying to survive until dawn?