George Hawken was a highly respected draughtsman, master of intaglio printmaking and influential teacher at the University of Toronto. This print is one of only a few in his Die Verwandlung suite that do not directly illustrate a scene in Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Instead, the image seems to suggest a process of “becoming animal” by way of the protagonist’s skull, open to the air. Gregor wakes up one morning to find he has transformed into a large insect._