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COWBOYS AND INDIANS: THE AMERICAN WEST IN GERMAN ART OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by TERESA BRAMLETTE REEVES (Under the Direction of Evan Firestone) ABSTRACT Eliciting fantasy, adventure, and romantic ideals of natural living, the American Indian has been a long cherished symbol for the German people. In the nineteenth century, with Germans migrating to the United States, Germany’s evolutionary role in ethnography and anthropology, and the immense popularity of Karl May’s work, this interest was intensified, easily surviving the tumultuous first half of the twentieth century. The spaghetti westerns of the 1960s, German support of the American Indian Movement beginning in the 1970s, and the rise of Indian fan clubs revived Karl May’s work in the second half of the twentieth century, helping to sustain a German connection to all things Indian. This study follows the course of this influence on German art of the twentieth century through a chronological examination of representative works by Rudolf Schlichter, Max Ernst, Joseph Beuys, Sigmar Polke and Lothar Baumgarten. The image of America, as represented in the guise of the Wild West, has provided a point of deflection, a method of escape and a target for Germans artists for over one hundred years. INDEX WORDS: German art, Native Americans, Emil Nolde, August Macke, Rudolf Schlichter, Max Ernst, Joseph Beuys, Sigmar Polke, Lothar Baumgarten, Wild West, Karl May COWBOYS AND INDIANS: THE AMERICAN WEST IN GERMAN ART OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by TERESA BRAMLETTE REEVES BFA, University of Georgia, 1975 MFA, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1984 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2008 © 2008 Teresa Bramlette Reeves All Rights Reserved COWBOYS AND INDIANS: THE AMERICAN WEST IN GERMAN ART OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by TERESA BRAMLETTE REEVES Major Professor: Evan Firestone Committee: Alisa Luxenberg Janice Simon J. P. Short Isabelle Wallace Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2008 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the process of assimilating the material necessary for this dissertation and setting aside the time for research and writing, I have nearly given up a dozen times. I have been stuck betwixt and between the studio and the library, the easel and the desk, the paint brush and the computer. I have doubted my ability to offer new insights, or even simply, to write. I have been frustrated by other commitments, other goals and the contingencies of life itself. Through all of this I have heard the steady voice of my husband Robert who refused, on rather pragmatic grounds, to let me give up on years of work and study. I was also gifted with a patient advisor, Evan Firestone, who consistently nudged me back on my slow path. And when it came time for him to read and comment on my work, he proved to be an outstanding editor. I thank both of these men for their support and assistance. I am also grateful to my readers. Isabelle Wallace, whom I have not yet even met, asked important questions and, together with J. P. Short, focused my attention on clarifying my methodological approach. Alisa Luxenberg provided valuable editorial suggestions and support, and Janice Simon, with typical energy and intelligence, lent her expertise to this project. Finally, I want to thank my mother, from whom I inherited a stubbornness that has served me well in this pursuit, and my father, who taught me to love art. And to all of you who continued to ask, “Are you a Dr. yet?” over this long, long process, I thank you. And more importantly, I finally have an answer for you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi PREFACE……………………………………………………………………………………...xxiii CHAPTER 1 Indianers and the Wilden Westen ..................................................................................1 2 Pre-War Arcadia versus Rudolf Schlichter’s Wild West.............................................20 3 Exile in America: Max Ernst ......................................................................................49 4 Do I Like America? Post-World War II Performance by Joseph Beuys .....................76 5 Fastest Gun in the American West: Sigmar Polke....................................................110 6 AMERICA, an invention: Lothar Baumgarten.........................................................135 7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................167 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................180 FIGURES.....................................................................................................................................197 v LIST OF FIGURES 1. George Catlin The Author painting the Chief Mato-Tope (Four Bears) at the base of the Rocky Mountains, 1841………………………………………………………….page 197. Color lithograph, 170 x 434 cm frontispiece to: Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, Written During Eight Years’ Travel Amongst the Wildest Tribes of Indians in North America, 1832-1839 Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 68. 2. Karl Bodmer Inkas-Kinne, Siksika Blackfeet Chief (August 1833), n.d………………...page 198. Watercolor and pencil 43.2 x 30.2 cm (17 x 12 inches) Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 93. 3. Hermann Krüger The Ethnological Museum in Berlin, 1887…………………………..…...page 199. Wood engraving 31 x 36.5 cm (12 1/3 x 14 ½ inches) Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 133. 4. Anonymous Photograph “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West,” in Germany, 1890………………………..…page 200. 21.6 x 15 cm (approx. 8.5 x 6 inches) Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 234. 5. Anonymous Poster Sioux Indians, 1910……………………………………………………....page 201. Lithograph on linen 185 x 138 cm (approx. 73 x 54 inches) Hagenbeck-Archiv, Hamburg From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 210. vi 6. Anonymous Poster Sarransani Wild West, 1912………………………………………….….page 202. Color Lithograph 95.2 x 70.9 cm (approx. 37 ½ x 28 inches) Collection Jaap Best, Haarlem From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 284. 7. Anonymous Postcard Karl May as Old Shatterhand with Winnetou’s Silver Rifle, n.d………...page 203. Karl May Museum, Radebeul From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 248 and 257. 8. Rudolf Schlichter Wild West, 1916-1918……………………………………………………page 204. Watercolor on paper 28.9 x 35.9 cm (approx. 11 1/3 x 14 inches) Collection Christina and Volker Huber, Offenbach From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 341. 9. August Macke Indians on Horses, 1911…………………………………………………page 205. Oil on panel 44 x 60 cm (approx. 17 1/3 x 23 ½ inches) Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 332. 10. Emil Nolde Exotic Figures I, 1911………………………………………………..…..page 206. Oil on canvas 65.5 x 78 cm (approx. 26 x 31 inches) Galerie Otto Stangl, Munich From: Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein, editors, I Like America: Fictions of the Wild West (Munich: Prestel 2006), p. 337. 11. Emil Nolde Exotic Figures II, 1911…………………………………………………..page 207. Oil on canvas 65.5 x 78 cm (approx. 26 x 31 inches) Nolde-Stiftung Seebüll From: Urban, Martin, Emil Nolde: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Volume One 1895-1914 (London: Sotheby’s Publications, 1987), p. 361. vii 12. Emil Nolde Cat-Africa, Study from the Berlin Ethnological Museum……………......page 208. Pencil on paper 18.4 x 29.6 cm (approx. 7 ¼ x 11 1/5 inches) Collection of Nolde-Stiftung, Seebüll From: Ingried Brugger, Emil Nolde und die Südsee (Vienna: Kunstforum Bank Austria, 2001), unpaginated section, #18. 13. Emil Nolde Man, Fish and Wife, 1912………………………………………………..page 209. Oil on canvas 71.5 x 57.5 cm (approx. 28 x 22 ½ inches) Collection of Nolde-Stiftung, Seebüll From: Ingried Brugger, Emil Nolde und die Südsee (Vienna: Kunstforum Bank Austria, 2001), unpaginated section, #36. 14. Emil Nolde Man, Wife and Cat, 1912……………………………………………........page 210. Oil on canvas 67 x 53 cm (approx. 26 1/3 x 21 inches) Collection of Nolde-Stiftung, Seebüll From: Ingried Brugger, Emil Nolde und die Südsee (Vienna: Kunstforum Bank Austria, 2001), unpaginated section, #37. 15. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Still Life with Negro Sculpture, 1913……………………………..……...page 211. Oil on canvas 73 x 65.5 cm (28 ¾ x 25 ¾ inches) Museum Ludwig, Cologne From: William Rubin, “Primitivism”