For centuries, Western artists have created still-lifes as memento mori, stimulating meditation on the transitory nature of existence. Skulls, arguably, are the archetypal symbol of death and decay. As with many of Erlebacher’s paintings, War Game engages art-historical tradition while also including modern elements, in this case to address the physical and psychological violence associated with death at war. For example, the skull at the far right is pierced by two bullet holes, and bullets rest on the dark green fabric.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Erlebacher earned a BA in industrial design and an MFA at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She and her husband, Walter Erlebacher, taught at Pratt until 1966, at which time the couple relocated to Philadelphia, each of them having accepted a teaching position at the Philadelphia College of Art (later the University of the Arts). Erlebacher taught at the University of the Arts and later at the New York Academy of Art. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in the collections of Woodmere, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and many others.
