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 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1482552 . Accessed: 11/11/2014 09:09 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Deutscher Kunstverlag GmbH Munchen Berlin is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 132.230.242.35 on Tue, 11 Nov 2014 09:09:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Franqoise Forster-Hahn A Hero forAll Seasons?Illustrations for Goethe's >Faust<and the Course of Modern GermanHistory Illustrationsconstitute one of the most tangible The changingpictorial representations of Faust recordsof a text'scritical reception over the course clearlybespeak two major shiftsoccurring over of history,particularly so when the artistnegoti- time:one in thereading of the narrative structure, ates a considerablespan of timebetween the pro- the other in the perceptionof its contentand ductionof the textand the creationof the image. meaning.The two are closelyrelated both to the However earnestthe attempt to achievea >faithful< textualstructure of Goethe's tragedyand to the transferenceof word intoimage, the artist always historicaland culturalfabric of Germanyat large. bringspictorial conventions into play, not only SinceFaust occupiesa centralposition in modern literaryinterpretation, and, by dint of its imagi- German culture,visual representationsof Goe- nary)surfeit, theillustrationmanifests intricatelinks the's fictionalhero come to embody,again and to the political and culturalfabric of its own again,fundamental aspects as well as specificten- period.Hence, thevisual communication of a text denciesin Germanhistory. From the timeof the is nevermere >translation< of word intoimage, but firstpublic stagingof Faust in 1829,a potential rathera processthat adds a layerof meaning,one reciprocityestablishes itself between the imagery whichmay even defy the text itself. As bothverbal of stageproductions and illustrationsof the text, and pictorialrepresentation are exposed to shifts so much so thatit is oftenimpossible to unravel of interpretation,their interrelationship, too, fluc- the threadsof mutualinspiration. Because of the tuateswith the passage of time. Nevertheless, illus- complexand intricateweb of interconnectionsof trationsvisibly register how a texthas been read text,image, and performance,and theircommon at a specificmoment in history,for images, per- linkagesto the courseof history,the image tradi- haps morepoignantly than interpretative readings, tionsharply articulates profound shifts in the read- mirrorthe changingcultural role that literary ing of Goethe's text. works and theirauthors play beyond theirown The followingessay is notintended as a complete time. Because illustrationsfunction both as aes- surveyof nineteenth-and twentieth-centuryGer- theticartifacts in theirown rightand as a partial man illustrationsto Faust,nor does it considerall visualizationof the literarytext, they assume a the multiplereadings of Goethe's text.Instead, it dual role: as the former,they bring image tradi- attemptsto tracethe visual interpretation of Goe- tions into textualfocus; as the latter,they break the'sfictional character from hesitant philosopher throughliterary conventions and supply visual to nationalhero, and comes to recognize,in the evidenceof a text'scritical reception. The case of end,a radicalreversal of Faust's image in thework Goethe's Faust with the prolificproduction of of Max Beckmann.It is throughthe lense of illus- illustrationsfor the play signalsdramatic shifts in trationthat the political meaningattributed to theinterpretation of thetext, from the Napoleonic Goethe'sFaust comes into sharp focus. Therefore, Warsthrough the phase of unification, the Wilhel- as a case study,this analysis of thevisual portrayal minian Empire, the Weimar Republic, and the ofFaust illuminates the manifold intersections and ThirdReich. No less thanliterary interpretations, transformativeforces which give shape to artistic theseimages testify to the appropriationof Goe- production'. the's textby successivegenerations. Goethe had liberatedFaust fromthe stereotyp- SFora moredetailed analysis of German nineteenth cen- Tragedyor National Symbol?The Interpretationof tury illustrations,cf. Forster-Hahn, >>Romantic Goethe'sFaust in g9thCentury German Art,<< in Our 511 This content downloaded from 132.230.242.35 on Tue, 11 Nov 2014 09:09:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ical featuresof the popular medieval legend, trans- place in 18123. Faust, ein Fragment(1790) had been forminghim into a thoroughlymodern man. publishedwith a singleengraving by Johann Hein- Thoughhe was stillenmeshed in magicalpursuits rich Lips (1758- 1817),a frontispiecedepicting and metaphysicalstruggles, Goethe's Faust com- Faustin hisstudy, modeled on an etchingby Rem- binedthe philosophical reflection, the intense am- brandt4.The firstedition of Faust I (18o8)appeared bition,and the emotionallycharged erotic adven- withoutany illustrations.Only afterthe author's turesthat made him an entirelymodern man in deathin 1836was Wilhelmvon Kaulbachcommis- theeyes of contemporary audiences. Yet, through- sioned to design.twelve steel engravingsfor a out the nineteenthcentury, artists who were at- >Prachtausgabe<,or deluxe edition,of Goethe's tractedto Goethe'stragedy continued to resurrect works,but this projectnever came to fruitions. thepopular medieval aspects of thetale, for these Finally,in 1854,it was Cotta who publishedthe had come to symbolizea typicallyGerman tradi- richlyillustrated edition of Faust I, forwhich En- tion. From the momentthe firstillustrations ap- gelbertSeibertz provided the drawings.While it peared, they revealedthat German artistswere took halfa centuryfor a fullyillustrated text to drawingnot onlyon Goethe'stext but also on the appear on the market,artists produced graphic popularfable behind it. To be sure,this contradic- cycles,independent of the text,before the first tion did not escape Goethe, who took a highly public performanceof Goethe's play occurredin criticalposition on thequestion of pictorial repre- 1829. These >picturestories< effectively coined an sentationsof his text,and finallycame to thecon- image of Goethe's Faust long beforetheir hero clusionthat the work was essentiallyunsuited for foundpopular acclaim on stage.The mostsignifi- illustration.In 1805, he wrote to his publisher cant pictorialrepresentations of the earliernine- Cotta: >Den Faust dicht ich, geben wir ohne teenthcentury are Peter von Cornelius's Bilder Holzschnitteund Bildwerke.Es ist schwer,daf zu Goethe's Faust (1816)6, Umrissezu Goethe's etwas geleistetwerde, was dem Sinne und dem Faust. Gezeichnetvon MoritzRetzsch (1816)7, and Tone nach zu einem Gedichtpaft. Kupferund in France,Eugene Delacroix'sillustrations for the Poesie parodierensich gew6hnlichwechselweise. Frenchtranslation by AlbertStapfer (1828)8. Ich denkeder Hexenmeister soll sichallein aushel- Cornelius'scrisp engravingsgained importance fen<<2.Despite his own convictionthat Faust thatthe young artistcould neverhave imagined shouldnot be illustrated,Goethe himself executed whenhe undertookhis timely project. In i8ii,three severaldrawings for Faust L He did not,however, years afterthe publicationof FaustI, Cornelius intendthem to serveas >illustrations<,but rather executedthe first seven drawings while still resid- as sketchesfor a stageproduction planned to take ing in Frankfurt;he completedhis cyclein Rome Faust?Roots and Ramificationsof a ModernGerman tographicreproductions published by Bruckmann; cf. Myth,Monatshefte, Occasional Volumes 5 (Madison: Neubert, 1932,245; Wegner, 1962,79; Popitz, 1983, 170 The Universityof WisconsinPress, 1987), 82-123. and172. Cf. Fritzvon Ostini: Wilhelm von Kaulbach, 2 Goethein a letterto Cotta,quoted from Neubert, 1923. Bielefeldund Leipzig 1906, and Evelyn Lehmann and VI. ElkeRiemer: Die Kaulbachs.Eine Kiinstlerfamilie aus 3Cf. Forster-Hahn,in Our Faust?,83. Arolsen,Arolsen, 1978. 4 Neubert,1932, ill. p. 3;Wegner, 19, 41; Rembrandt's print 6 Bilderzu Goethe'sFaust von P. Cornelius.Gestochen had been identifiedas Faustsince the eighteenth cen- vonF. Ruscheweyh.Franckfurt am Mainbey F. Wen- tury,providing the model for numerous successive rep- ner,i816. For a criticalassessment ofCornelius' prints, resentationsof Faustin his study. cf.Alfred von Wolzogen: Peter von Cornelius, Berlin 5As earlyas 1836,Wilhelm von Kaulbachhad beencom- 1867;Hermann Riegel: Peter Cornelius. Festschrift zu missionedby Cotta to executetwelve drawings for steel des grossenKiinstlers ioo. Geburtstage,Berlin 1883; engravingsto illustratea >Prachtausgabe<of Goethe's AlfredKuhn: Die FaustillustrationendesPeter Corne- works,a projectthat was laterabandoned. Between lius in ihrerBeziehung zur deutschenNational- 1857and 1864,Kaulbach produced