Schnellzugriff

Transcription

Schnellzugriff

A Hero for All Seasons? Illustrations for Goethe's 'Faust' and the Course of Modern German
History
Author(s): Françoise Forster-Hahn
Source: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 53. Bd., H. 4 (1990), pp. 511-536
Published by: Deutscher Kunstverlag GmbH Munchen Berlin
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Franqoise
Forster-Hahn
A Hero forAll Seasons?Illustrations
forGoethe's >Faust<and
the Course of ModernGermanHistory
of Faust
Illustrationsconstituteone of the most tangible The changingpictorialrepresentations
recordsofa text'scriticalreceptionoverthecourse clearlybespeak two major shiftsoccurringover
of history,particularly
so when theartistnegoti- time:one in thereadingofthenarrative
structure,
ates a considerablespan of timebetweenthepro- the other in the perceptionof its contentand
ductionof thetextand thecreationof theimage. meaning.The two are closelyrelatedboth to the
Howeverearnesttheattemptto achievea >faithful< textualstructureof Goethe's tragedyand to the
transference
of word intoimage,theartistalways historicaland culturalfabricof Germanyat large.
bringspictorialconventionsinto play, not only SinceFaust occupiesa centralpositionin modern
of Goeand, by dintof its imagi- German culture,visual representations
literaryinterpretation,
intricatelinks the's fictionalhero come to embody,again and
theillustrationmanifests
nary)surfeit,
to the political and culturalfabricof its own again,fundamental
aspectsas well as specifictendencies
in
communication
of
a
text
German
the
visual
Hence,
period.
history.From the timeof the
is nevermere>translation<
ofwordintoimage,but firstpublic stagingof Faust in 1829,a potential
rathera processthatadds a layerof meaning,one reciprocity
establishesitselfbetweentheimagery
whichmayevendefythetextitself.As bothverbal of stageproductionsand illustrations
of the text,
and pictorialrepresentation
are exposed to shifts so muchso thatit is oftenimpossibleto unravel
ofinterpretation,
theirinterrelationship,
too,fluc- the threadsof mutualinspiration.Because of the
tuateswiththepassageoftime.Nevertheless,
illus- complexand intricateweb of interconnections
of
trationsvisiblyregisterhow a texthas been read text,image,and performance,
and theircommon
at a specificmomentin history,forimages,per- linkagesto thecourseof history,theimagetradithaninterpretative
readings, tionsharplyarticulates
hapsmorepoignantly
profoundshiftsinthereadmirrorthe changingculturalrole that literary ing of Goethe's text.
works and theirauthorsplay beyond theirown
The followingessayis notintendedas a complete
time.Because illustrations
functionboth as aes- surveyofnineteenthand twentieth-century
Gertheticartifacts
in theirown rightand as a partial manillustrations
to Faust,nor does it considerall
visualizationof the literarytext,they assume a the multiplereadingsof Goethe's text.Instead,it
dual role: as the former,theybringimagetradi- attemptsto tracethevisualinterpretation
of Goetions into textualfocus;as the latter,theybreak the'sfictionalcharacterfromhesitantphilosopher
throughliteraryconventionsand supply visual to nationalhero,and comes to recognize,in the
evidenceof a text'scriticalreception.The case of end,a radicalreversalofFaust'simageinthework
Goethe's Faust with the prolificproductionof of Max Beckmann.It is throughthelenseof illusillustrations
fortheplay signalsdramaticshiftsin trationthat the political meaningattributedto
theinterpretation
ofthetext,fromtheNapoleonic Goethe'sFaustcomesintosharpfocus.Therefore,
Warsthroughthephaseofunification,
theWilhel- as a case study,thisanalysisofthevisualportrayal
minian Empire, the Weimar Republic, and the ofFaustilluminates
themanifoldintersections
and
ThirdReich.No less thanliterary
transformative
forces
which
to
artistic
interpretations,
giveshape
theseimagestestifyto theappropriationof Goe- production'.
the's textby successivegenerations.
Goethe had liberatedFaust fromthe stereotypcenSFora moredetailedanalysisofGermannineteenth
tury illustrations,cf. Forster-Hahn,>>Romantic
of
Tragedyor NationalSymbol?The Interpretation
Goethe'sFaustin g9th
CenturyGermanArt,<<in Our
511
ical featuresofthepopularmedievallegend,transforminghim into a thoroughlymodern man.
Thoughhe was stillenmeshedin magicalpursuits
and metaphysical
Goethe's Faust comstruggles,
binedthephilosophicalreflection,
theintenseambition,and theemotionallychargederoticadventuresthatmade him an entirelymodernman in
theeyesofcontemporary
audiences.Yet,throughout the nineteenthcentury,artistswho were attractedto Goethe'stragedycontinuedto resurrect
thepopularmedievalaspectsof thetale,forthese
had come to symbolizea typicallyGermantradition.From the momentthe firstillustrations
appeared, they revealedthat German artistswere
drawingnotonlyon Goethe'stextbutalso on the
popularfablebehindit.To be sure,thiscontradiction did not escape Goethe,who took a highly
criticalpositionon thequestionofpictorialrepresentationsof his text,and finallycameto theconclusionthattheworkwas essentially
unsuitedfor
illustration.In 1805, he wrote to his publisher
Cotta: >Den Faust dicht ich, geben wir ohne
Holzschnitteund Bildwerke.Es ist schwer,daf
etwas geleistetwerde,was dem Sinne und dem
Tone nach zu einem Gedichtpaft. Kupferund
Poesie parodierensich gew6hnlichwechselweise.
Ich denkederHexenmeister
soll sichalleinaushelfen<<2.Despite his own convictionthat Faust
shouldnotbe illustrated,
Goethehimselfexecuted
severaldrawingsforFaustL He did not,however,
intendthemto serveas >illustrations<,
but rather
as sketchesfora stageproductionplannedto take
Faust?Rootsand Ramifications
ofa ModernGerman
OccasionalVolumes5 (Madison:
Myth,Monatshefte,
The University
of WisconsinPress,1987),82-123.
2 Goethein a letter
to Cotta,quotedfromNeubert,1923.
VI.
3Cf. Forster-Hahn,
in Our Faust?,83.
4 Neubert,
19,41;Rembrandt's
1932,ill.p. 3;Wegner,
print
had beenidentified
as Faustsincetheeighteenth
censuccessive
themodelfornumerous
tury,
providing
representations
of Faustin his study.
5As earlyas 1836,
WilhelmvonKaulbachhadbeencommissioned
forsteel
byCottatoexecutetwelvedrawings
to illustrate
a >Prachtausgabe<of Goethe's
engravings
works,a projectthatwas laterabandoned.Between
1857and 1864,Kaulbachproducedthechalkdrawings
forhisGoethe-Gallerie,
a portfolio
oftwenty-one
pho-
place in 18123. Faust, ein Fragment(1790) had been
publishedwitha singleengraving
byJohannHeinrich Lips (1758- 1817),a frontispiecedepicting
Faustinhisstudy,modeledon an etchingbyRemThe firsteditionofFaustI (18o8)appeared
brandt4.
withoutany illustrations.
Only aftertheauthor's
deathin 1836was Wilhelmvon Kaulbachcommissioned to design.twelvesteel engravingsfor a
or deluxe edition,of Goethe's
>Prachtausgabe<,
works,but this projectnevercame to fruitions.
Finally,in 1854,it was Cotta who publishedthe
editionofFaustI, forwhichEnrichlyillustrated
gelbertSeibertzprovidedthe drawings.While it
took halfa centuryfora fullyillustrated
textto
on
the
artists
market,
appear
produced graphic
cycles,independentof the text,beforethe first
of Goethe'splay occurredin
publicperformance
coined an
1829. These >picturestories<effectively
image of Goethe's Faust long beforetheirhero
foundpopularacclaimon stage.The mostsignificant pictorialrepresentations
of the earliernineteenthcenturyare Petervon Cornelius's Bilder
zu Goethe's Faust (1816)6, Umrissezu Goethe's
Faust.Gezeichnetvon MoritzRetzsch(1816)7,and
in France,EugeneDelacroix'sillustrations
forthe
Frenchtranslationby AlbertStapfer(1828)8.
Cornelius'scrisp engravingsgainedimportance
thatthe young artistcould neverhave imagined
whenheundertookhistimelyproject.In i8ii,three
yearsafterthe publicationof FaustI, Cornelius
executedthefirstsevendrawingswhilestillresidhe completedhis cyclein Rome
ingin Frankfurt;
cf.
tographic
reproductions
published
byBruckmann;
Neubert, 1932,245; Wegner, 1962,79; Popitz, 1983, 170
von Kaulbach,
and172. Cf. FritzvonOstini:Wilhelm
Bielefeld
undLeipzig1906,andEvelynLehmann
and
ElkeRiemer:
Die Kaulbachs.
EineKiinstlerfamilie
aus
6
Arolsen,Arolsen,1978.
Bilderzu Goethe's
FaustvonP. Cornelius.
Gestochen
vonF.Ruscheweyh.
am MainbeyF. WenFranckfurt
assessment
ofCornelius'
ner,i816.Fora critical
prints,
cf.Alfred
vonWolzogen:
Berlin
PetervonCornelius,
zu
1867;HermannRiegel:PeterCornelius.Festschrift
des grossen
ioo. Geburtstage,
Berlin1883;
Kiinstlers
Alfred
Kuhn:Die Faustillustrationen
desPeterCornelius in ihrerBeziehungzur deutschen
NationalderRomantik;
Faust.
Berlin1916;Goethe's
bewegung
Der Tragodie
erster
vonPeter
TeilmitZeichnungen
512
duringthe autumnof thatyear.The entiresuite
oftwelvescenes,includingthetitlepage,appeared
fouryearslater,in 1816.The moststriking
features
of Cornelius's conceptionlie in his consistently
neo-medievalsetting,his focus on the narrative
elementsof Goethe'stext,and,withinthisframework,his highlypersonaldefinitionof the relationshipbetweenFaust and Mephistopheles.Not
once does the artistallude to the broodingold
Faust in his study,theonlyimagethathad accompaniedthe1790editionofGoethe'sFaust,einFragment.Instead,Corneliusdevoteshalfof his series
of imagesto thetragedyof Gretchen.In thesixth
scene,in >Marthe'sGarten<(FaustI, 3073ff:fig.I4)
wherethefourfiguresofFaust,Margaret,
Mephistopheles,and Marthaareunited,theartisttellingly
pictureshis readingof Goethe's text:the setting,
and costumesevokea medievalGerarchitecture,
with
the two couples secludedin a walled
many,
garden.Faust,in the guise of youthfulknight,is
prominentlyfiguredin the leftforegroundpursuingMargaret,theamorouslysubmissiveyoung
woman,whereasMephistopheles,
sportingthetraditionalfeather
inhiscap,clubfoot,andfingernails
extendinginto claws, harks back to a medieval
The emblematic
>flatness<
ofMephistostereotype.
creates
a
contrast
to
the
pheles
striking
psychologmoderncharacterof Faust.
ically differentiated
If thefixedattributes
of Mephistophelespreserve
the stereotypesof a medievalplay,the strikingly
modernand therefore
traitsof Faust's
fluctuating
characterconsistently
moral
and social catedefy
Cornelius.Eingeleitet
von AlfredKuhn,Berlin1920;
Alfred Kuhn: Peter Cornelius und die geistigen
seinerZeit,Berlin1921;FelixSalomon:Die
Stromungen
von Corneliusund Delacroix,docFaustillustrationen
toraldissertation,
1930;and,Maria-Luisevon
Wiirzburg
von Johann
Graberg:Die Nibelungen-Illustrationen
HeinrichFiissliundPeterCornelius,
doctoraldissertation, Berlin 1970.
Umrissezu Goethe'sFaust. Gezeichnetvon Moritz
andAugsburg
dated1837on title
Retzsch,Stuttgart
1836,
page): thefirstpartconsistsof twenty-nine
plates,the
secondof eleven;thefirsteditionof thefirstpartapMoritzRetzsch.
pearedin 1816;cf.LeopoldHirschberg:
seinergraphischen
Verzeichnis
Werke,
Chronologisches
Berlin1925.
8 Goethe:Faust,Tragedie,
traduite
enFranpaispar
M. Al-
7
gorization.Cornelius distinguishedbetweenthe
oftheplaybycastingMephistopheles
protagonists
with the conventionsof an emblematictradition
whileconstruing
Faustaccordingto a modernpsychologyof character,
yetframingthe encompasscenes
in
the
sing
periodsettingofa fictionalGerman middleages.
The dramaticdominanceof Faust comes into
even sharperfocus in the crucialeleventhscene,
Der Ritt(FaustI, 4399-4404: fig.i), in whichCorneliuspoignantlyarticulatesthe relationshipbetweenFaustand Mephistopheles.
The picturerepresentsFaust and Mephistopheles>speedingonwardon blackhorsesaroundtheravenstone<.
Cornelius's Faust is a self-possessedand virilefigure
whose imperious expressionand commanding
gesturebeliethehorrorGoethe'scharacter
experienced in the face of the dreadfulgallows scene,
and the deeplydisturbingquestionhe mustask:
?>Was weben die dortum den Rabenstein?<<Mephistophelessitsstoopedandpassiveinthesaddle,
overshadowedby his billowingcape,whileFaust,
his mouthsternlysetand hisarmraisedin accusation, supremelydominatesthe composition.As
one ofCornelius'searlycriticsobserved,theartist
had defiedGoethe'stextherebyshifting
theactive
role entirelyto Faustg.This reversalof roles is
underscoredeven more emphaticallywhen we
compareCornelius'simageto Delacroix'sillustration of the same scene(FaustI, 4399-4404: fig.2).
In Delacroix's conception,the cunning,everpersuasiveMephistopheles
becomestheverypersoniet de dixbertStapfer.
Orneed'unPortrait
d'Auteur
Scenesde
septDessinscomposes
d'apreslesprincipales
et executes
surPierre
l'ouvrage
par M. EugeneDelaParis1828;seealsoF. Salomon:
Die Faustillustracroix,
tionenvon Corneliusund Delacroix,Wiirzburg1930;
Giinter
Busch:
Delacroix:
DerToddesValentin,
Eugene
Frankfurt
a. Main1973;fora discussion
ofDelacroix's
cf.Guinevere
et Faust,<<
in
sources,
Doy: >>Delacroix
Nouvelles
de l'estampe
and
21,1975, 18-23;Delacroix's
Cornelius's
haveoften
beencompared,
mostreprints
intherather
article
that
cently
general
byRonaldSalter
doesnotgobeyond
a survey,
>Illustrative
Approaches
to Goethe's
in GoetheYearbook,
Publications
Faust,<<
oftheGoethe
ofNorth
America,
IV,Columbia,
Society
SC, 1988, 57-82.
9 Wolzogen,1867,16.
513
i. PetervonCornelius.
Der Ritt.From:Bilderzu Goethe'sFaustvonP. Cornelius.
Gestochen
vonF. Ruscheweyh.
Goethe-Museum
1816.Diisseldorf,
ficationof evil who exercisestotal controlover
the entirescene. ApproachingGoethe's Faust as
an >outsider<,
largelyunburdenedby the heavy
of
historical
and culturalmeaningthatFaust
layers
fortheGermanaudience,theFrenchartsignified
istcouldturnhisattention
to thedarker,thesupernaturaland irrationalsidesof Goethe'swork.For
this,Delacroixchoseto employthenewtechnique
of lithography
whose velvetydarktonalitiesand
sharpcontrastsprovedthemselvesto be uniquely
suited to the representationof metaphysical
drama. Apparentlyinspired by a melodrama
whichhe saw in London duringhis visitin 1825thoughhis sketchesafterRetzsch's printsreveal
thathe also knewtheGermanline-engravingsIo
-,
Delacroix accentuatedthe dramatichighlights
in
thetext,and also embeddedthestoryin a gloomy
setting.In his attemptto picturethe subjective
andirrational
dimensionsofFaust,Delacroixwent
farbeyondmereillustration
ofGoethe'snarrative.
Goethemustindeedhavesensedtheclose affinity
thatDelacroixexhibitedforthe>poetic<
sensibility
and >romantic<
characterof his play, because he
respondedmorefavorablyto theFrenchman'sillustrationsthanhe did to any by Germanartists:
?Dabei ist aber eins besondersmerkwiirdig,
dag
ein bildenderKiinstlersichmitdieserProduktion
in ihremerstenSinne dergestaltbefreundet,
dagf
er allesurspriinglich
Diisterein ihrebenso aufgeioDelacroix's
after
Retzsch
areintheLouvre;
drawings
cf.G. Doy, in Nouvellesde l'estampe,
1975,18-23.
514
2. Eugeine
Delacroix.Nacht,OffenFeld.Lithograph.
From:Faust.Tragidiede M. de Goethe,traduite
enfrangais
par M. AlbertStapfer.
1828.Diisseldorf,
Goethe-Museum
fafitund einen unruhigstrebendenHelden mit
gleicherUnruhedes Griffelsbegleitethat".
With his line-engravings
for FaustI (1816)and
Faust II (1836),MoritzRetzschfollowedthestyle
of printcyclesof Homer's Illiad and Odysseyby
Flaxmanand the brothersRiepenhausen,producing a pictorialnarrativeaccompaniedonly by
subtitlesand briefexplanatorycommentsin the
preface.The edition of 1837, consistingof both
FaustI and FaustII, was illustrated
withthemost
of
to
text
completeset images Goethe's
up to that
in Schriften
zurLiteratur,
>>Faust,
regarding
" Goethe,
de Monsieur
de Goethe,
traduite
enfranqais
Tragedie
deXVIIdessins
orn&e
Stapfer,
parMonsieur
parMonsieurDelacroix,<<
in GoethesWerke,
XII, Hamburg
I96o,354-356.
time.The clarity,even flatness,of these simple
line drawings,theirlack of any shading- literal
- emptiedthedepictedeventsof
or metaphorical
all internaland externalconnotations.
Despitethis
enormous
achieved
shallowness,Retzsch'sprints
popularitywell beyond Germany,and servedas
models forsubsequentgraphicand theatricalinin both England and Francelz. If
terpretations
Retzsch's Umrissezu Goethe'sFaust functioned
as a patternbook forthecanonof stanprimarily
it was Cornelius'shistoricizing
dard illustrations,
12
inhispictorial
twoscenes
Retzsch
included
sequence
whichbecame
anintegral
partofalllaterillustrations:
andMargaret
atthespinning
Faustinhisstudy
wheel;
in OurFaust?,
cf.Forster-Hahn
87.
515
Gretcheninto the centerpieceof his pictorialseCorneliusomittedany refquence. Significantly,
erenceto Faustas an introspective
scholar,casting
himinsteadin thepowerfulrole ofMephistopheThis
les's equal - if not superior- counterpart.
the
text
marks
with
Goethe's
beginning
rupture
Faust froma roof theprocessthattransformed
and
world-exploring
manticallysoul-searching
subject,with his virtuesand failings,into the
heroicembodimentof nationalidentity.
Cornelius'spervasiveneo-medievalsettingim>Gerto itsaudiencea typically
mediatelysignified
and ambience.Takinghiscuesfrom
man<tradition
Diirerandtheartofthenorth,he forgeda pictorial
mode thatrepresentsat once the contemporary
Nazarene ideal of a new Germanartand thenational patrioticmood of the anti-Napoleonic
movement.It is onlyconsistentwiththisideological backgroundthat he inventedan image of
Faust as a dynamic,taut, and virile character,
whollya >manofaction<,notone plaguedbydoubt
In old age,lookingback upon
and introspection.
his Faust,theartistexplicitlyconfessedhis intentions:o... ichwollteganzdeutschseinund wahlte
Later biographers
Faustinseiner
Studierstube.absichtlichdiese Form
vonKaulbach.
3. Wilhelm
...,13.
Werken
nach and criticsimmediately
From:Galleriezu Goethe'ssdmmtlichen
capitalizedon thisavowed
von W. Kaulbachund seinenSchilern. ?nationalist
Zeichnungen
tendency((,which they claimed for
1841
theirown agendas,readingtheGoethe-Cornelius
with
Faustas an energetic
>knight?,self-possessed
an
defiance((
and
air'4.
>imperatorial
?Olympian,, of
When Wolzogen publishedthis
interpretation
vision that convergedwith the rapidlygrowing Cornelius's Faust in 1867, he effectively
merged
moveof
the
the
of
His
in
German
anti-Napoleonic
patriotic
spirit
conception
politics.
tendency
the
of
with
the
ment
at
the
with
Faust
an energetic,
new,
century
beginning
characteristically
youthful
northernfeaturesreleaseda powerfulmodel for virulentcurrentof nationalismthatwould soon
thefuture.By anchoringhis visual narrativein a precipitateGermanunification.
firmlymaterialworld - made the more familiar It is only duringthisperiod of intensestruggle
thatthefigureof Faust is
by exclusionofpreciselythosespiritualand mag- forGermanunification
ical elementsthat Goethe explored in his own endowed withpowerfulTeutonicfeaturesbefitfor tinga nationalsymbol.If Cornelius'sillustrations
drawingsand thathad held a strongattraction
the
Delacroix
Cornelius turned
tragedy of weremerely>altdeutsch<,as Goethehad critically
to
Faustin comparison
to describe
andhe continues
nicht
... ?wenndieselbe
ofMephistopheles:
thefigure
Faustallzusehr
blickenden
nebenjenemolympisch
in dieserritterlich-straffen
Entsetzen
grauenvollem
ofCornelius's
Forthepolitical
mitimperatorischem
Trotzdem
dievielmehr
Gestalt,
reading
einschrumpfte.<<
inOurFaust?,
cf.alsoForster-Hahn
Faustcycle,
scheint
amGalgen... Halt zu gebieten
84-87.
Teufelsspuk
'3 Riegel,PeterCornelius,
1833,
31.
4 Wolzogen,1867,16: >>Es zeigt sich keine Spur von
....<
516
I
121
I_1
4. AlexanderLiezen Mayer.Studierzimmer.
Wood engraving.1876.From: Frenchedition,Paris,1878.
Diisseldorf,Goethe-Museum
describedthem's,EngelbertSeibertz's steel engravingsforCotta's richlyillustratededitionsof
FaustI and FaustII of 1854and 1858,6markthe
of Faust into
turningpointin thetransformation
a truly Germanic hero. During the Vormirz
period,Wilhelmvon Kaulbachhad alreadybegun
15Goethe first learned about Cornelius's drawings
whentheartisthadcomBoissereeinMay1811
through
pletedonlypartof his cycle.WhereasGoethepraised
the >>geistreicheBehandlung<<in a letterto Cornelius
in May 1811,
he judgedtheengravings
harshlyin 1828
when he discussedCornelius'sart with the painter
Stieler;>>Er m6ge den Corneliusschen
,Faust< nicht
... Dieses Gedicht
leiden,..., er sei ihmzu altdeutsch
of Faust
to pave the way withhis interpretation
as a man of bold gestures.Kaulbach's numerous
of Goethe'sworks,espepictorialrepresentations
ciallyhis Goethe-Gallerie,had the dual effectof
popularizingGoethefora wide Germanaudience
and moldingthe imageof his fictionalcharacters
ichhalteaberdafiir,
hatmanso oftdarzustellen
gesucht,
Kunst
fiir
die
es
bildende
geeignetist,weil
wenig
daft
Dares zu poetischist.Retzschhatmehrdas wirklich
zustellendeergriffen<<,
quoted fromNeubert,1923,
IX-x.
16Goethe,Faust.Eine
Tragddievon Goethe.Mit Zeichnungenvon EngelbertSeibertz.Zwei Teile,Stuttgart
and Tiibingen1854and i858.
517
bernnodtunb tror
a)kbiccut
O5c4tbie wirtrdca4ftboc fo c. -
Zber abcr,aberabcr
\\\"
ntr Stiliio.r
JertFoenmt
r"aimlid bicfer %ccfiticr
mniOpclbbegicr
fcon liwngft
tl'ierFit
2luf ben Gottlicb fcittermigacn,
wo tricg id? Zir?"
3cnllenb:,,2td?,
5. WilhelmBusch.PaterFilucius.
From:PaterFilucius.
Zeitbild.
Allegorisches
1872.Diisseldorf,Goethe-Museum
In his illustration
forseveralfuturegenerations'7.
of Faust in seinerStudierstubeIs
(FaustI, 355ff:
fig.3), theartistinscribesintohis portrayalof the
old Faust thefeaturesof concentrated
energyand
dominance:althoughFaust,sittingat his lectern,
is cast in the traditionalcontemplative
pose, his
clenched
fist
contradetermined
mien
and
fiercely
and introspection.
dicttheverystateof reflection
This subversionofthepictorialconventionsignals
thatthe scholarwas only a >pupa< fromwhicha
man of action emergedovernight.
strong-willed
Kaulbach'sstudentSeibertzwentyeta stepfurther
when he endowed Faust with the featuresof a
blond Teuton, an iron-willed>man of action<
(FaustII, 4, Ioo39ff:fig.16). Seibertzinventeda
highlynationalistic
imageoftheFaustianherothat
servedas a model for nearlya century,gaining
specialcurrencyduringtheperiodsof theWilhelminianEmpireand theThirdReich.In 1900,AlexanderTille summarizedthe nationalisticrefashioningofFaustwhenhe claimedthat,erstSeibertz
des Berliner
hat den rabenhaarigen
Christuskopf
Faust ins Blonde, Germanischeiibersetzt,ihn
dadurchseinerdeutschenAbkunftzuriickerobert
und ihnwirklichzum geistigenNationalherosdes
The nationalistic
deutschenStammesgestempeltis.
tenmakeoverofFaustparallelsthecontemporary
denciesin the readingof Goethe's drama.In his
prefaceof 1864to GustavNehrlich'sZeichnungen
nach Goethe's Faustzo, Heinrich Diintzer sugGermancharacter
ofthe
gestedthattheessentially
literarywork held a strongattractionforartists:
>>Ein Werk von so wunderbarerAnziehung,so
tiefemGehalt,wie die reicheWelt des Goetheschen >Faust<,worin deutschesLeben, deutsches
Sinnen und Fiihlen so ergreifendsich spiegeln,
mufitevor allemden bildendenKiinstlermichtig
hadrelocated
anregen...<<2I.Seibertz,inparticular,
Faust froma vaguelyspiritualand metaphysical
realm into the materialworld of contemporary
Goepoliticalrealities.As thecenturyprogressed,
the's textwas read in ever closer rapportwith
withits
contemporary
politics.The Kulturkampf
- chieflydirectedagainst
vicious anti-clericalism
theJesuits- added a new subtextto the illustrationspublishedduringthe1870sand I88Os.When
DeutscheMonatshefte,
In 1906, Ostini characterizedKaulbach's Goethe- '9 Tille,Westermanns
88,1900,769.
zur GustavNehrlich'sZeichGoethe- zo Subscriptions-Einladung
Kaulbachsche
Galerieas a culturalicon:
,Dieund siebzigerJahrenein
Worten
Galeriewar in den sechziger
nungennachGoethe'sFaust.Miterliiuternden
vonHeinrichDiintzer,Coblenzn.d.[1864],no paginain keinem >besseren
...
damals
das
Kulturrequisit,
tion.
Hause< fehlte.<<Ostini,1906, 98. Cf. note5.
?GustavNehrlichund
Werkennach
8sFromGalleriezu Goethe'ssdmmtlichen
2' Ibid., fromDiintzer'spreface,
friihere
Faustzeichner.<<
von W.Kaulbach und seinenSchiilern,
Zeichnungen
and Tiibingen1841.
Stuttgart
'7
~i8
6. PetervonCornelius.
NachdemKirchgang,
from:Bilderzu Goethe'sFaustvon
P. Cornelius.
Gestochen
vonF. Ruscheweyh.
i816.
Goethe-Museum
Diisseldorf,
AlexanderLiezen Mayer,a studentofPiloty,illustratedFaustI withfiftycompositions(1876)22,he
depictedFaust in his studywithMephistopheles
as the glib agentof evil in the guise of a Jesuit.
The model forLiezen Mayer'sMephistophelesis
readilyfoundin WilhelmBusch's Pater Filucius
of 187223,a scathingcaricatureof the avaricious
Filucio (FaustI, 1338- 1340:figs.4, 5).
>>Jesuiter<<
By means of such specificreferenceto contem22JohannWolfgangvon Goethe,Faust.Eine
Tragodie.
ErsterTheil.Illustrirt
in 50oCompositionen
von Alexander Liezen Mayer. Mit Ornamentenvon Rudolf
Seitz,Miinich1876.
poraryissuesin some of theirmostpopularmanthe artistunabashedlyconveyedhis
ifestations,
an
withBismarck'spoliticsenforcing
partisanship
nationalistic
explicitly
readingofFaustas an agent
of German power. This dislocation of Faust
evercloserto the
broughtpictorialrepresentation
of
German
nationalism.
trajectory
At theturnof thecentury,
whenAlexanderTille
propagatedthe figureof Faust as nationalhero,
Busch:PaterFilucius.
S3Wilhelm
Zeitbild,
Allegorisches
Helene datesfromthesame
1872.Busch'sDie fromme
time. Cf. Gordon Craig, Germany 1866-1845, New
York, 1978, p. 74.
519
from:Faust.
7. FranzStassen.
Kirchgang,
Eine Tragodievon Goethemit163Federzeichnungen.
n. d. Diisseldorf,
Goethe-Museum
...... ....
Franz Stassen,a memberof the >Werdandibund<,
forFaustI andFaustII,
publishedhisillustrations
based on an outspokenly>v6lkisch<
ideology24.It
comesas no surprisethatStassen'simagesofFaust
his
as a blond, Germanichero, a man fulfilling
nationalmissionthroughtitanicdeeds, were republishedin 193425.Both Seibertzand Stassenalso
illustrated
FaustII, and it is in some of theseimthat
Faust
becomes the role model for the
ages
enterprising
pioneerin the period of Germany's
mostrapidindustrialexpansionbetween1871and
ofthePhilemonand Bau1914.Stassen'srendering
cis episode turnsinto an allegoryof colonial endeavor,the >highmountainsscene<(FaustII, 4,
Ioo39ff:fig.17) intoa platformfromwhichFaust
broadcaststheworldlymissionofan all-conquering Germanichero.
This insistently
Germanicreadingof Faust has
of
continuedto informpictorialinterpretations
imStassen's
thedramain thetwentieth
century.
pact was especiallypervasivein the picturingof
Faustand Margaret,be it in thesceneoftheirfirst
meeting,in the arbor, or in Margaret'sroom.
While Corneliushad integratedFaust and Margaret comfortablyinto the urban settingof a
northern medieval town (FaustI, 2605-2606:
-?I
:i
I'~i~seh, lic~E~D~G~i~C~u~,.
!t~
~IC~
~aR~.
~I~P~L~I~IE~;
*3..~
~
i
24Faust.Eine Trag6dievon GoethemitI63Federzeich..
I
I
a
I.
~.'1.F9
i
''
-F
I
'I .I
i
r
~JV~eU?e~~LI~L~
lie
'i
1Y?
?;I?1+
I'
nungenvonFranzStassen,n. d.; Faust.I2 Zeichnungen
zum II. TeilevonFranzStassen,Berlinn.d. [1902]; this
is a pictureportfoliowithouttext,publishedin the
series Teuerdank.Fahrten und Trdumedeutscher
Maler,22.Folge.
z5Faust.Eine Trag6dievon GoethemitI63Federzeichnungenvon FranzStassen,Berlin1934.
8. ErnstLiebermann.Strasse,from:GoethesFaust,
ErsterTeil. 1907.West Berlin,StaatlicheMuseen
Kunstbibliothek
Kulturbesitz,
Preuifischer
520
4r.~I.?.~.
A.4
Alf.
...
i
IcI
-ail
51.
.. . .. . .
.. . .. .. .
Bildern
9. Petervon Cornelius.Title page forScenenaus Goethe'sFaust in acht lithographischen
nach der Ausgabe des FiirstenAntonRadziwill. 1835.
Goethe-Museum
Diisseldorf,
fig. 6), Stassen, and later Ernst Liebermann26,
of
furtherintensified
the teutoniccharacteristics
the couple (FaustI, 2605-2606:figs.7, 8). They
croppedtheurbanscenerydown to thetwo main
and therebyfocussedon thevaluesofintifigures,
and
in the protagonistis.
The
Innerlichkeit
macy
two figuresin theirnortherncostumes disconnectedfromtheirenvironment
and pressedto the
of
the
frame
that
veryedges
gain a specificity
farexceedsthe>gothic<
ambience
of
Corfairytale
nelius'spictures.The virileFaustanddemureMargaret,portrayedin such a mannerand setting,at
once evokea Germantraditionoffeelingand conGoethesFaust. ErsterTeil. Mit Bildernund Buchvon ErnstLiebermann,
schmuck
Hamburg1907.
27 Scenenaus Goethe'sFaustin acht
Billithographischen
dernnachderAusgabedesFiirsten
AntonRadziwill...,
26
structtheconventional
genderrolesofnineteenthcenturybourgeoissociety.
of Goethe's Faust
Ultimately,the identification
with the hero of German nationaldestinyalso
shaped the imageof the author.Goethe,so long
overshadowedby Schilleras the nation's >first<
poet, ceased to be portrayedas the meditating
intellectand graduallyassumed heroic proporof
tions in conjunctionwith the transformation
man
Faustfromdoubtingscholarto strong-willed
of action.For Anton Radziwill'sFaust of 183527,
Petervon CorneliusrenderedGoethein thetraditionalpose of a man immersedin thought,as the
Berlin1835:severalartistsproduceddrawingsforthis
thetitlepage,witha lithograph
seriesof lithographs;
by Hosemann,was designedby Cornelius.
521
_... .. _. _ ?- lk?
4<-
ali
J.-lk
?i4F
UF
IB~jo~
vc
rin
V
b.PSKI
rf
? .fff4K-&r?ip
io. FranzStassen.
Titlepagefrom:
Faust.12 Zeichnungen
zumII. Teile.(1902).
Goethe-Museum
Diisseldorf,
poet atworkin theseclusionofhismedievalstudy
(fig.9). Cornelius's Goethe is set apartfromhis
fictionalcharactersby meansof the architectural
>frame<
of his Gothic cell, but he is also firmly
boundintothelargercompositionthatdefinesthe
>setting<of his artisticactivity:the act of creating
and thefictional
a coherentunity.
productforming
a
title
Stassen,by contrast,designed
page forhis
zum II. Teile
sequenceof Faust,12 Zeichnungen,
of 1902, in whichtheportraitoftheartistas divine
genius is completelyseparatedfromthe cameo
figuresof Faust and Mephistopheles(fig.io). By
fashioninga likenessof thepoet in themannerof
an antiqueportrait,
and by elevatingit on a quasiclassicalsarcophagusina circularframe,
suggestive
of a nimbus,Stassentransfigured
Goethe into a
nationalheroofOlympianstature.The identification of Faust with Goethe's own person comes
fullcirclewhen,in 1923,Oskar Grafendowedthe
with
dead Faustat themomentofhis redemption
522
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II. Oskar Graf.Grablegung,from:Faust eine TragodievonJohannWolfgang
Goethe.Ersterund ZweiterTeil. 1923.
WestBerlin,Staatliche
MuseenPreufischer
Kunstbibliothek
Kulturbesitz,
thefeatures
ofthepoethimself(FaustII, 5,
II6o4ff:
fig.11)28. Here, theportraitof the creatormerges
withtheimageof his creation.Whiletheinscription of Goethe's personalfeaturesinto those of
hisfictionalcharactereffectively
blurstheboundaries betweenhistoricaland fictionalspace, the
poet - disconnectedfromhis historicalpersonais picturedin the role of mythicalgenius.
Among the largenumberof luxuryeditionsof
theI920s, onlythoseillustrated
by Karl Hubbuch
and Max Slevogtdepartedradicallyfromthisnationalistinterpretation
ofthetext.The socialcritic
Hubbuch relocatedFaustI into a contemporary
proletariansetting(FaustI, combiningseveralof
the sceneswithGretchen:fig.12). Publishedprismalledition,thisportolio
vatelyin an extremely
vonJohannWolfgang
Goethe.Eri8 FausteineTrag6die
sterundzweiterTeil.Mit39 Originalradierungen
von
Oskar Graf,Ziirichand Leipzig1923.
523
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itx
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...............
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:
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....
i
!7 'i
Karl Hubbuch. Garten,from:Faust. io grofieund 4 kleine Originalradierungen.
2nd ed. 1967. West
MuseenPreutiischer
Kunstbibliothek
Berlin,Staatliche
Kulturbesitz,
of etchingsz9
challengesFaust's fitnessas national
for
the
firsttime.Not onlyin hisprovocasymbol
tiveinterpretation
of Faust,but also in his break
withpictorialconventions,
theartistarticulates
his
radicalcritique.WhileArthurKampf'sillustration
of Martha'sgarden(publishedin 1925,onlya year
afterHubbuch's portfolio)3o,
harkedbackto Cornelius(FaustI, 3073ff:figs.13,14),the modernity
of Hubbuch's imagerygave a special edge to his
a coherentnarracritique.Insteadof constructing
29
..... ....
?? il~I~]E~~
%?
.........
i ii?.
',!,
.
....
12.
j~i?~f
KarlHubbuch,Faust.iogrosseund4 kleineOriginalraaus den
dierungen.Abziigevon den Originalplatten
Jahren 1922 - 1924,Munich 1967. This postwar edition
of ioo, editedby RichardHiepe, is based on thefirst
editionof fivecopies datingfrom1924;cf. Goethein
tive,Hubbuch adoptedthejarringjuxtapositions
and displacements
of contemporary
expressionist
the
films,employing techniqueof montage,combiningseveralmotiveswithina singlecomposition,and juxtaposingindividualsceneswithfragmentarypartsof otherimages.Since all narrative
coherenceof timeand space has been suspended,
the world is plunged into a state of chaos not
unlikethatofthetheateroftheabsurd.This illogical structure
defiesnot only traditionalpictorial
derKunstdes20.Jahrhunderts,
a. Main1982,
Frankfurt
62-63and Popitz,Von Odysseusbis FelixKrull,1983,
7/17.
30oFaust eine Tragodievon Goethe.I und II. Mit RavonArthurKampf,Berlin1925.
dierungen
524
13. Arthur
Garten,from:FausteineTragodievon
Kampf.Marthens
Goethe.I und II. 1925.WestBerlin,Staatliche
MuseenPreufischer
Kunstbibliothek
Kulturbesitz,
During the years of the WeimarRepublic,the
To completehis demystification readingof Faust thatemergesfromthe pictorial
and illustration.
even
seemsleastconsistent,
of a nationalsymbol,Hubbuch's Faust is charac- recordofillustrations
initswidelydivergent
aestheticand
terizedas a feeblescholarin pursuitofa working- contradictory,
class girl.Hubbuch's printsdeflateFaust as a cul- ideologicalconnections.In 1927, Bruno Cassirer
to
turalicon by trainingthe satiricaleye of an Otto publishedMax Slevogt'sextensiveillustrations
Sleand elevenetchings3'.
Dix or a George Grosz on thisidol of nationalist FaustII, 5Iolithographs
echo
evocatively
contemporary
vogt's
prints
pathos.
>order<but also the familiarrapportbetweentext
31Max Slevogt,GoethesFaust.ZweiterTeil,Berlin1927.
intheKunstbibliothek,
Theportfolio
without
text,contains510o
and 11 etchings;
cf.Goethein der
lithographs
Frankfurt
a. Main1982,64Kunstdes 20.Jahrhunderts,
81and Popitz,von OdysseusbisFelixKrull,1983,7/16.
525
~
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:-'
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---------"
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ii.
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14. PetervonCornelius.MarthesGarten,from:Bilderzu Goethe'sFaustvon
Goethe-Museum
P. Cornelius.
von Ruscheweyh.
1816.Diisseldorf,
Gestochen
F.
theater,but theyalso enunciatea highlypersonal
readingof Faust's character.Slevogtseemsto be
the firstGermanartistof the twentiethcentury
to depictFaustin his old age as an isolated,lonely
figure,a frailold man reckoningwithhis failure
and guilt. In particular,his Faust ,in the high
mountains<(FaustII, 4, Ioo39ff:fig. I5) betrays
melancholic soul-searching rather than the
assurednessof action,an image of introspection
ratherthanof Nordic heroics,as in Seibertz'sand
Stassen'splates (FaustII, 4, Ioo39ff:figs.16, 17).
Slevogt'spersonalvisionofFaustas a tragicrather
than a heroic figurebreakscompletelywith the
of Faust and the national
popular identification
missionof Germany.His Faust, deeply marked
turnshisback
and introversion,
literally
by frailty
man
of action,exand
the
the
viewer
both
upon
to
the
theatrical
his
aversion
posturingof
pressing
Stassen'sillustrations
(FaustII, 5, 11378ff:
fig.18;
and, Ii475ff:fig.19).
Afterthedemiseof theThirdReich,theold and
oftenrepressedquestionof Faust's guiltand redemptionpresseditselfanew upon graphicand
theatricalvisualizations.Alreadyduringthe Second WorldWar,theexiledMax Beckmannposed
theveryquestionsthatwould dominatelaterreadings of the text.Commissionedby Georg Hartmann of the Bauersche>Giesserei<in Frankfurt,
526
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15. Max Slevogt.Faust im Gebirge,from:GoethesFaust.ZweiterTeil.
MuseenPreuIischer
1927.WestBerlin,Staatliche
Kulturbesitz,
Kunstbibliothek
Beckmannproducedover i5o pencildrawingsfor
FaustII in Amsterdambetween1943 and 1944.
Theywerepublishedonlyin 1957,sevenyearsafter
theartist'sdeath,andthenin a verysmalledition3z.
Beckmann'sunderstanding
of the dramaand his
32
MaxBeckmann,
FaustIL Teil,Hamburg,
Goethe.
1957.
inthesmallediThisfirst
andpartial
edition
appeared
tionof850copies;forthefirst
of
complete
publication
intheoriginal
sizeandwiththe
Beckmann's
drawings
references
toGoethe's
cf.Faust.
DerTragdiartist's
text,
die zweiterTeil mit 143Federzeichnungen
von Max
Beckmann,Munich1970;the pencilsketchesforthe
pictorialconceptionchallenge,but also radically
and heroicinterpretations
reverse,all nationalistic
of his own time.While the nationalisticreading
thathad prevailedin hisnativecountryforso long
was now raisedto itsmoststrident
pitchin fascist
finisheddrawingswere only publishedin 1984,Max
zu Faust II. FederzeichBeckmann,Illustrationen
von Rike
nungen- Bleistiftskizzen.
Interpretation
Wankmiiller
und Erika Zeise, Munichand Miinster
1984;cf. Goethe in der Kunstdes 20. Jahrhunderts,
Frankfurt
a. Main1982,82-114
andPopitz,VonOdysseus
bisFelixKrull,1983,7A8.
527
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,,.,ii
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..'".
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,
von
from:Faust.Eine Trag6die
Seibertz.
16. Engelbert
Hochgebirge,
Goethe-Museum.
Goethe.ZweiterTeil.I858.Diisseldorf,
from:Faust.Eine Tragodievon Goethe.
17. FranzStassen.Hochgebirge,
n. d. Diisseldorf,
Goethe-Museum
in hisDutchexile,gave away fromFaust the last vestigesof a national
Beckmann,
propaganda,
of symbolandexcavatedfromthetextpreciselythose
himself
overto a newandprobingexploration
had so assidua textwithwhichhe was, of course,intimatelyaspectsthatGermanicmystification
familiar.
He approachedthetaskof illustratingously suppressed.
Faustwithan independence
and energyreleased Beckmannfashionedhis powerfulimages at a
of biographyand politicalcirthe
of
by
perilousinstability hisdailyexistence. fatefulintersection
His
ofFaust'sunavoidable
cumstance.
of
scarred
the
recognition
Deeply
by
experience Hitler's
to Meandperson- guiltdid not inhibithimfromattributing
>Faustian<plansforGermany
falsely
himas phistophelesemotionallyintense,deeply human
thatpersecuted
allyvilified
bytheregime
ref- qualities.Only now do theybecomeentirely
he hadfoundtemporary
a >degenerate<
artist,
equal
war
in
Holland.
violence
of
from
the
There, partnerswhose actions are inextricableand, in
uge
in
ofFaust some ways,reciprocal.The complementarities
thevexingduality
confronted
Beckmann
Faust
and
the
of
the
visual
characterization
of
as he tackled question
andMephistopheles
MephistoFaust'sguilt.Separated
byforcefromhiscountry pheleshintstronglyat Beckmann'sidentification
he stripped withbothcharacters
inalmosttotalisolation,
andworking
(FaustII, i, 6256:fig.20).This
528
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:.ki.. .....
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Am~*`?:;i?;
-
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ILL
y-
ZI,
1/
]hi
Cr verIhertfl( immertiefer,
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fciiefer,
fc4 unbanbrekfatig
bridenib,
12tem
Oclenbunberftidenb;
nict erftidt
unbobneeeben,
nim?tverbreifeInb,
nid?tergeben.
Go einunnauNfatfam
9iToen,
eoUen,
toibrig
fc~meratic?
?affen,
18. MaxSlevogt.
Die Sorge,from:Goethes
Faust.ZweiterTeil.1927.West
MuseenPreufischer
Kunstbibliothek.
Berlin,Staatliche
Kulturbesitz,
FranzStassen.
vonGoethe.
Faust,dieSorge,from:
Faust,eineTrag6die
MuseenPreuflischer
Kulturbesitz,
1934edition.WestBerlin,Staatliche
Kunstbibliothek
19.
holdsthekeyto hisreadingof FaustandMephistopheles.
Theartist's
ownphyscomplementarity
thetextandto hiscreation
ofa modernallegory iognomy,
andhencehisidentity,
areever-present
ofgoodandevil.As Beckmann
the in theseillustrations.
Beckmann's
self-identificasuperimposes
of
over
both
tion
with
the
rather
than
with
one
oranother
profile Mephistopheles Faust'sface,
pair,
after
hisownfeatures,
hepresents
him- of thetwoprotagonists,
culminates
in thefigure
patterned
selfin a graphic
thatis ofFaustinhisold age(FaustII, 5,Ix151ff:
overlapofphysiognomies
fig.21),
alsoa cypher
forhismoraldilemma.
Thecontours orinthatofMephistopheles
the
mourning lossof
of eachidentity
from
the
counterFaust's
soul
(FaustII, 5,11825ff:
emergeonly
fig.29).An attenof
their
difference.
In
his
own
features
tive
of
Beckmann's
one that
illustrations,
play
lending
study
to bothFaustandMephistopheles
withina single extends
to Goebeyondtheirpreciserelationship
his graphicstrategy the'stexttoembrace
thefullscopeoficonographic
image,Beckmannconflates
withhismessage:
a portrayal
oftwoin- traditions,
reveals
thedistance
Beckmann
has
through
fully
characters
as
of
one
conwon
from
conventions
or
naseparable
necessary
parts
anyhistoricizing
in
he
realizes
his
the
ambivalence
In
tional
a
to
Stassen's
figuration,
image
comparison
ideologies.
and dualityinherent
in therelationship
between (FaustII, 5, II378ff:fig.22) or Kampf's(FaustII,
529
zo. Max Beckmann.
Finstere
Galerie,from:Goethe.
Museen
Faust.II. Teil. 1957.WestBerlin,Staatliche
Preugischer
Kunstbibliothek
Kulturbesitz,
Faustimhtchsten
Alter,
wandelnd,
zi. MaxBeckmann.
from:Goethe.Faust.II. Teil.1957.West
nachdenkend,
MuseenPreugischer
Kulturbesitz,
Berlin,Staatliche
Kunstbibliothek
20
22.
i2
FranzStassen.Die grauenWeiber,
from:Faust.
Zeichnungenzum II. Teile. 1902. West Berlin,
Staatliche
MuseenPreugischer
Kulturbesitz,
Kunstbibliothek
23. ArthurKampf.OffeneGegend,from:Fausteine
Tragddievon Goethe.I undII. 1925.WestBerlin,Staat-
licheMuseenPreugischer
Kulturbesitz,
Kunstbibliothek
Die viergrauenWeiber,from:
24. Max Beckmann.
Goethe. Faust. II. Teil. 1957. West Berlin,Staatliche
MuseenPreuiischer
Kunstbibliothek
Kulturbesitz,
Die dreiGewaltigen,
from:
25.Max Beckmann.
Goethe.Faust.II. Teil.'957. WestBerlin,Staatliche
MuseenPreuiischer
Kunstbibliothek
Kulturbesitz,
21
530
ia~
~~~~
......s~
?..".------~
S----
... ___.-7
B
~
'
i
-1:.<
";ti
?
~E
,?r
2
s~R?~~L~; ~i.Y...:-.i
/,,
24f
?;::
: 1--<;;"
L:
. ::S".
1?
C
;,.iih
22
i~??
,!
i
?~~~~~~~~
'
.=~~- ... -..., .......
~ 3Ir
.
...:
.
?
.,,.
i
r,
25
.
26. Arthur
Die dreigewaltigen
from:
Gesellen,
Kampf.
FausteineTragodievon Goethe.I undII. 1925. West
MuseenPreugischer
Berlin,Staatliche
Kulturbesitz,
Kunstbibliothek
;.
?a,
i
.
I~t
..
...
.1
.. -
,. .,
5,io43ff:fig.23) depictionsoftheold Faust,Beckmann'svisionofthe>greyhags<(FaustII, 5,I378 ff:
fig. 24) makes for a particularlystarkcontrast.
Beckmann'shighlyfragmented
yet cogentdrawexcavate
the
and
while
ings
psychological spiritual,
Stassen'sand Kampf'shierarchical
imagesmerely
of power,as in thelooming
conjurethefigments
incarnationof the old Faust,who clingsdesperatelyto commandover his worldlycreation.By
the conflictfromthe materialworld
transferring
to thepsychologicaland,ultimately,
metaphysical
realm,Beckmannbreakstheyoke thathad forced
Faust into servitudeto Germannationalism.
This does notmean,however,thatno connection
exists between the concretehistoricalcircumstancesoftheartist'sown conditionand hisinterpretationof Goethe's text.Throughouthis suite
of drawings,Beckmann mediatesbetween the
ofhistoricalexistenceand theinternalexternality
of
artistic
ity
imagination.The extentto which
thisinterconnection
findsits roots in the experienceofhisown lifeis particularly
apparentin two
instances:whenhe attributes
thefeaturesofHitler
and Goeringto the>threemightyones<(FaustII,
4, io323ff:
fig.25),a groupthathad been figured
as aggressiveTeutonic mercenaries(FaustII, 4,
1o323ff:
fig.26); and,in hisreadingofthePhilemon
and Baucis episode (FaustII, 5, io43ff: fig.27).
Ever sinceSeibertzused theepisode of Philemon
and Baucis as a symbol of imperialistendeavor
MaxBeckmann.
Philemon
undBauciszeigendem
Wanderer
denvonFaustgeschaffenen
Land,
Streifen
from:Goethe.Faust.II. Teil.1957.WestBerlin,
Staatliche
MuseenPreufischer
Kulturbesitz,
Kunstbibliothek
27.
532
--~f~
~I~F~Plf~Y'
jr
ti
~-~i~Z
d
~E~i~-~8
?il:
IT~~LbT
f
I?t~
' i~FUo~
iP3rtr~
'I
+e
1.
I
C~"
I
.kr
;r
3
'
r
?k~i;
5
:Ai
X~
a , i'"~:~
f;;;
.I' .i
ii;
~'
~-~1
2
Die dreigewaltigen
Faust.Mephistopheles.
28. Engelbert
Seibertz.
Gesellen.
Kahn,reichundbuntbeladenmitErzeugnisPrachtiger
von
Eine Tragodie
From:E. Seibertz.
senfremder
Weltgegenden.
Goethe-Museum.
Goethe.IL. 858.Diisseldorf,
(FaustII, 5, III67ff: fig.28), it had helped artists
defineFaustas the>MannderTat<intenton fulfilling his national destinyin an age of industrial
expansion and political hegemony.In a sharp
breakwiththistradition,
BeckmanninsteadidentifiesPhilemonand Bauciswiththecontemporary
fate of the Jewishpeople. He reversesreceived
meaningand uncoversutterlydestructiveforces
in Faust's mission.
The impactof Beckmann'sdrawingson readings
of Faust afterthe Second World War should not
be underestimated,
eventhoughtheirfirstpublication occurredonly in 1957,a yearbeforeGriindgens' productionof FaustII in Hamburg. The
thatexist betweenBeckstrongvisual affinities
and Griindgens'sinterpretamann's illustrations
- nottoneglecttheshaping
tionofMephistopheles
ofhisrelationship
to Faust- seemto go farbeyond
533
merecoincidence.The highlyemotionalqualities
of Beckmann'sMephistopheles,especiallyin the
scene where he mournsthe loss of Faust's soul
(FaustII, 5, 11825ff:fig. 29), may have inspired
Griindgens'sconception as well as his mask33
(FaustII, 5, 11825ff:fig.30). In ErnstSchr6der's
1966Berlinproductionof FaustII at theSchillertheater,Faust and Mephistopheleswore identical
costumes;and,bothKlaus MichaelGriiber'sstag/
ing in the Salpetrierein Paris of I975 and Claus
I
Peymann'sStuttgart
productionsof 1977expose
//
failureand guilt,destructionand defeat,rather
thancreation,heroicaction,or nationalmission.
Goethe'sclosingscenein themountaingorgeshas
t//
oftenbeen omittedfrompostwarstageproduc1
of Faust's redemption
tions,and the significance
,I
has givenrise to controversyin recentGerman
literarycriticism.Beckmannclosed his cycle of
'l
drawingsnot with his deeply personal view of
Faust's redemption,
but witha compleximageof
thefallofman.In theiressence,then,Beckmann's
illustrations
to FaustII, producedat an extraorofhistorical,
and arbiographical,
umFaustsSeelebetro- dinaryjuncture
29. Max Beckmann.
Mephisto
tisticmoments,foreshadowthe new readingof
gen, from:Goethe. Faust. II. Teil. 1957. West Berlin,
Goethe'stextin Germanyforthepostwardecades.
Staatliche
MuseenPreufiischer
Kulturbesitz,
Kunstbibliothek
If Goethe believedthatillustrations
and poetic
as Mephistopheles.
in
texts
result
mutual
30. GustafGrundgens
Hamburg,
usually
>parody<- one meFaust II, V. 1958.
diummockingtheother-, thelongartisticlineage
a reciof Faust illustrations
surelydemonstrates
procitybetweenthe receptionof a text and its
interpretationin images. More tangible than
enmeshedin culturaltradiwords,and intricately
tions of its own, the image not only helped to
popularizethe literarywork,but also insinuated
itselfinto its readingat crucialmomentsin GerFaust overtime,artman history.By reinventing
ists assignedand reassignedto Goethe's fictional
herohis shifting
roles,onlyto assess and reassess
theideologicalcontradictions
theybroughtto the
fore.
-k
cf.
a discussion
Faustproductions,
ofGriindgen's
Faust,Frankfurt
Siegfried
Melchinger,
Griindgens
33 For
a. Main '959.
534
* A shorter
versionofthispaperwas readat the
The numberof each illustration
is precededby
Faustthrough
FourCen- a referenceto Goethe's Faust,Eine Trag6die,in:
international
symposium
held
at
Indiana GoethesWerke,HamburgerAusgabe. Volume 3,
Vierhundert
turies,
JahreFaust,
ed. ErichTrunz,Hamburg,5thed., 1960.
October1987.
University,
Bloomington,
Documentation
The researchforthisprojectwas supportedby 20. Jahrhunderts,Vienna and Stuttgart1952.
vom I6.
an IntramuralResearchGrantof the University Wegner,Wolfgang:Die Faustdarstellung
the
kind
zur
Amsterdam
of California.I gratefully
bis
1962.
acknowledge
Jahrhundert
Gegenwart,
assistance of the staffof the Kunstbibliothek, Schwerte,Hans: Faustund das Faustische,
einKaBer- pitel deutscherIdeologie, Stuttgart1962.Goethe
StaatlicheMuseenPreussischer
Kulturbesitz,
undDeutungen.
lin and of the Goethe-Museum,Anton-und-Ka- im 20.Jahrhundert.
Spiegelungen
and
of
von
Hans
Diisseldorf
Herausgegeben
Mayer,Hamburg1967.
tharina-Kippenberg-Stiftung,
the followinggraduatestudentsat UCR: Naomi Dabezies, Andre:Visagesde Faustaux XXe Siecle.
Litterature,
Sawelson-Gorse,Stacy Miyagawa,Danielle NaIdeologieetMythe,Paris,PressesUnide France1967.NationaleForschungsto Denise Brattonforedi- versitaires
thanson.I am grateful
und Gedenkstittender Klassischen deutschen
torialassistance.
inWeimar:Faustin derMalerei,Weimar
The followingstudiesdo not representa com- Literatur
in
but
were
1969. Mahl, Bernd: >>Fragment- Mysteriumespeciallyhelpful
plete bibliography
von Goethes
the preparationof thisessay:
Spieltext.Die Biihnengeschichte
Tille, Alexander:>>Goethes Faust in der moder- Faust.<<J.W. v. Goethe.Faust,Der Tragodieerster
der WiirttemWestermannsDeutsche und zweiterTeil. Die Auffiihrung
nen deutschen
Kunst.,
F.:
Staatstheater
88
bergischen
Stuttgart, StuttgartMonatshefte (1900),762-777.Storck,Willy
GoethesFaust und die bildendeKunst,Leipzig Ziirich1979, 177-207. Wegner,Wolfgang:>>FaustIllustration.<<
Reallexikonzur deutschenKunstge1912. GoethesFaust, ersterund zweiter Teil. Mit
Bildernnach7 Handzeichnungenvon Goetheund schichte7 (i98I),847-866.Henning,Hans: Goethe,
aus
zahlreichen Illustrationen zeitgendssischer Faust.Der Tragidie I. Teil mitIllustrationen
2nd
Berlin
und
deutscher
Kiinstler,
Wolf1982.Johann
herausgegeben eingeleitet 3Jahrhunderten, ed.,
von Franz Neubert,2nd ed. Leipzig 1923. Faust gang von Goethe.Epoche,Werk.Wirkung.Gravon Goethe.Zwei Teile in einemBand. Heraus- phisches KabinettGalerie Pels-Leusden,Berlin
gegebenvonE. W.Bredt,Munich:n.d.(1923). Goe- 1982. Goethe in der Kunst des 20.Jahrhunderts.
zum 10o.
und Bilderwelt.
thes Faust mit einer Einleitungvon Max von Weltliteratur
Ausstellung
am
Boehn: >>,Faustund die Kunst,<<Berlin1924.
von
von
Frankfurt
Goethe,
J. W.
Todestag
Anrold, Robert F.: >>Faust in der bildenden Main, Freies Deutsches Hochstift,Frankfurter
Das Buchdes Goethe-LessingJahres
Kunst,<<
I929. Goethe-Museum1982. Schwerte,Hans: >>>Faust<
>>Zu
und
>Faust<
Carl:
Inszenierungen
Rezeption,<<JahrBraunschweig1929, 104-II2. Niessen,
den Ausstellungen>Faust auf der Biihne<und buchfiir InternationaleGermanistik,
15/2 (1983),
Faust.<<VonOdys>Faust in der bildendenKunst<.<<Das Buch des 77-90. Popitz,Klaus: >>Goethes
in
seusbis FelixKrull.Gestaltender Weltliteratur
Jahres1929,87-IO3.
Goethe-Lessing
des 19. bis 2o.Jahrhunderts,
Neubert,Franz: VomDoctorFaustuszu Goethes der Buchillustration
Faust, Leipzig 1932. Redslob, Edwin: Goethes Berlin,StaatlicheMuseen PreussischerKulturbeFaustunddie bildendeKunst,No placeofpublica- sitz 1983,169-I87.
Heinz: Das Goethebilddes
tion,n.d. Kindermann,
535
Aufnahmen:
I, 2,
4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 16, I7 Goethe-Museum Diisseldorf. - 3, 5, 8, 10-13,
Verfasserin.
15,
536
18-30 Archiv der

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