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Walpurgisnacht
(Bilderbuch fĂŒr Muggeli Bl. 16)
by Otto Dix, 1922
Watercolour, pen and India ink on paper
40,6 cm x 29,1 cm
Private collection
Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (2 December 1891 Untermhaus [Gera] Germany â 25 July 1969 Singen Germany) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with George Grosz and Max Beckmann, he is widely considered one of the most important artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit.
Mary Wigman was a German dancer, choreographer and pioneer of expressionist dance, who also advocated and developed dance therapy. She was one of the most important figures in the history of European dance, an iconic figure in Weimar Republic German culture. Her work was praised for translating existential ideas onto the stage.
Arbeit schÀndet ~ Work Disgraces
aka
Newspaper Carriers
by Georg Scholz, 1921
Watercolour and black chalk on paper
30,9 cm x 49 cm
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany
Georg Scholz (October 10, 1890 WolfenbĂŒttel â November 27, 1945 Waldkirch) was a German painter, member of the New Objectivity movement.
Scholz was born in WolfenbĂŒttel and had his artistic training at the Karlsruhe Academy, where his teachers included Hans Thoma and Wilhelm TrĂŒbner. He later studied in Berlin under Lovis Corinth. After military service in World War I lasting from 1915 to 1918, he resumed painting, working in a style fusing cubist and futurist ideas.
With the rise to power of Hitler and the National Socialists in 1933, Scholz was quickly dismissed from his teaching position. Declared a Degenerate Artist, his works were among those seized in 1937 as part of a campaign by the Nazis to "purify" German culture, and he was forbidden to paint in 1939.
In 1945, the French occupation forces appointed Scholz mayor of Waldkirch, but he died that same year, in Waldkirch.
Die Metropolitan Opera (Met) Premiere von Philip Glass' Oper Akhnaten fand am 8. November 2019 statt. Die gefeierte Produktion von Regisseur Phelim McDermott lief bis zum 7. Dezember 2019 und kehrte aufgrund des groĂen Erfolgs in der Saison 2021/22 zurĂŒck.
Besetzung:
Akhnaten:Â Anthony Roth Costanzo (Countertenor)
Nefertiti:Â J'Nai Bridges (Mezzo-Sopran) in ihrem Met-DebĂŒt
Judith und Holofernes
Artemisia Gentileschi,Â
um 1612â1613
Ăl auf Leinwand
158,8âŻĂ 125,5âŻcm
Museo di Capodimonte, Neapel
Sichtlich angewidert, aber mit tiefer Entschlossenheit hĂ€lt Judith den Kopf des Holofernes und trennt diesen mit dem Schwert von dessen Körper. Eine treue Amme hilft ihr dabei, indem sie den Körper auf das nur leicht erkennbare Bett drĂŒckt. Obwohl Holofernes offenbar noch bei Bewusstsein ist, kann er sich nicht mehr wehren. Das mag am Wein liegen, den dieser zuvor getrunken hatte und der ihn mĂŒde machte. Die Geschichte wird im Alten Testament im Buch Judit erzĂ€hlt. Der feindliche Assyrische General Holofernes hĂ€lt das Volk in der jĂŒdischen Stadt Bethulia in Schach. Judith, eine Witwe dieser Stadt, nutzt ihre weiblichen Reize und erschmeichelt sich sein Vertrauen. Bei einem geplanten Festmahl fĂŒllt sie in mit Wein ab und enthauptet ihn. âDann ging sie zum Bettpfosten am Kopf des Holofernes und nahm von dort sein Schwert herab.
Sie ging ganz nahe zu seinem Lager hin, ergriff sein Haar und sagte: Mach mich stark, Herr, du Gott Israels, am heutigen Tag! Und sie schlug zweimal mit ihrer ganzen Kraft auf seinen Nacken und hieb ihm den Kopf ab.â â Judit 13,6-8 EU
Alle Instinkte, welche sich nicht nach auĂen entladen, wenden sich nach innen â dies ist das, was ich die Verinnerlichung des Menschen nenne: damit wĂ€chst erst das an den Menschen heran, was man spĂ€ter seine »Seele« nennt. Die ganze innere Welt, ursprĂŒnglich dĂŒnn wie zwischen zwei HĂ€ute eingespannt, ist in dem MaĂe auseinander- und aufgegangen, hat Tiefe, Breite, Höhe bekommen, als die Entladung des Menschen nach auĂen gehemmt worden ist. Jene furchtbaren Bollwerke, mit denen sich die staatliche Organisation gegen die alten Instinkte der Freiheit schĂŒtzte â die Strafen gehören vor allem zu diesen Bollwerken â, brachten zuwege, daĂ alle jene Instinkte des wilden freien schweifenden Menschen sich rĂŒckwĂ€rts, sich gegen den Menschen selbst wandten. Die Feindschaft, die Grausamkeit, die Lust an der Verfolgung, am Ăberfall, am Wechsel, an der Zerstörung â alles das gegen die Inhaber solcher Instinkte sich wendend: das ist der Ursprung des »schlechten Gewissens«. Der Mensch, der sich, aus Mangel an Ă€uĂeren Feinden und WiderstĂ€nden, eingezwĂ€ngt in eine drĂŒckende Enge und RegelmĂ€Ăigkeit der Sitte, ungeduldig selbst zerriĂ, verfolgte, annagte, aufstörte, miĂhandelte, dies an den Gitterstangen seines KĂ€figs sich wundstoĂende Tier, das man »zĂ€hmen« will, dieser Entbehrende und vom Heimweh der WĂŒste Verzehrte, der aus sich selbst ein Abenteuer, eine FolterstĂ€tte, eine unsichere und gefĂ€hrliche Wildnis schaffen muĂte â dieser Narr, dieser sehnsĂŒchtige und verzweifelte Gefangne wurde der Erfinder des »schlechten Gewissens«. Mit ihm aber war die gröĂte und unheimlichste Erkrankung eingeleitet, von welcher die Menschheit bis heute nicht genesen ist, das Leiden des Menschen am Menschen, an sich: als die Folge einer gewaltsamen Abtrennung von der tierischen Vergangenheit, eines Sprunges und Sturzes gleichsam in neue Lagen und Daseins-Bedingungen, einer KriegserklĂ€rung gegen die alten Instinkte, auf denen bis dahin seine Kraft, Lust und Furchtbarkeit beruhte.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Zur Genealogie der Moral,
Zweite Abhandlung: »Schuld«, »Schlechtes Gewissen« und Verwandtes- 16
Nietzsche auf dem Krankenlager
Hans Olde, 1899Klassik Stiftung Weimar
Nietzsche war zu diesem Zeitpunkt bereits seit seinem Zusammenbruch im Jahr 1889 geistig umnachtet und starb nur ein Jahr nach der Entstehung dieses PortrÀts, am 25. August 1900.
Diane Arbus, original name Diane Nemerov, (born March 14, 1923, New York, New York, U.S.âdied July 26, 1971, New York City), American photographer, best known for her compelling, often disturbing, portraits of people from the edges of society.
Diane Nemerov was the daughter of Gertrude Russek and David Nemerov, proprietors of a department store. Her older brother was the poet and critic Howard Nemerov. At age 18 she married Allan Arbus (divorced 1969), an employee at her familyâs store. Before separating, they worked collaboratively, first taking photographs and creating advertisements for the store, then creating commercial fashion photography for Harperâs Bazaar, Show, Esquire, Glamour, The New York Times, and Vogue.
After taking a brief photography course with Berenice Abbott, Arbus met Lisette Model, an Austrian-born documentary photographer, and studied with her from about 1955 to 1957. With Modelâs encouragement Arbus gave up commercial work to concentrate on fine-art photography. In 1960 Esquire published Arbusâs first photo-essay, in which she effectively juxtaposed privilege and squalor in New York City. Thereafter she made a living as a freelance photographer and photography instructor.
In 1963 and 1966 Arbus received Guggenheim fellowships to be part of a project titled âAmerican Rites, Manners, and Customs.â During this period she mastered her technique of using a square format, which emphasizes the subject more than the photographâs composition. She also used flash lighting, which gives her work a sense of theatricality and surrealism. She began at that time to explore the subjects that would occupy her for much of her career: individuals living on the outskirts of society and ânormalcy,â such as nudists, transvestites, dwarfs, and the mentally or physically handicapped. Her own evident intimacy with the extraordinary subjects of her photos resulted in images that engage the sympathy and collusion of the viewer and elicit a strong response. Some critics saw her work as remarkably empathetic to its subjects, while others were disturbed by what they saw as a harsh, voyeuristic look into the lives of the disadvantaged.
In 1971 Arbus committed suicide. A collection of her photos was published in 1972 in connection with a successful major exhibition of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. That same year her work was shown at the Venice Biennale, marking the first time that an American photographer received that distinction. In 2003 an extensive exhibition of her work opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and later traveled throughout the United States and Europe. An accompanying book, Diane Arbus Revelations (2003), contained some 200 photographs as well as excerpts from her letters and notebooks. In 2007 Arbusâs estate gifted her complete archivesâincluding photographic equipment, diary pages, and the negatives of some 7,500 rolls of filmâto the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Diane Arbus was an American photographer best known for her compelling portraits of people living on the edge of society.
Photos
Woman at a counter smoking, N.Y.C., 1962, THE MET
Lee Friedlander, Diane and Amy Arbus. New York City, 1963, MoMA
A Family On Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, New YorkDate, 1968, Art Institute Chicago
Girl in a watch cap, NYC, 1965
Diane Arbus, Self-portrait with 35mm Contax D camera, 1959. Diane Arbus Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Five fish species (triptych), 1983
acrylic and oilstick on canvas mounted on wood supports
Size 166 x 356 cm. (65.4 x 140.2 in.)
Jean-Michel Basquiatâs tribute to the mad and bad world of William Burroughs, including the unfortunate night in Mexico when he shot and killed his wife in a William Tell game.
The painting makes direct references to an incident that understandably haunted Burroughs, the night in 1951 in Mexico that he shot at the tumbler of water on his wife Joanâs head; and missed. The writer, almost certainly high on drugs, spent a fortnight in jail before bribes led to his release and he was later given a two-year suspended jail sentence.
In Basquiatâs painting there is reference to âBurroughâs bulletâ and possibly Burroughsâs profile on the back of a quarter-dollar coin dated 1951 with the word Liberty.Â
