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Kafka as an expressionist Draftsman

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Bibliography

  1. Gustav Janouch, “Conversations with Kafka”.Encounter, Issue of August 1971, p. 16.

  2. “As to his attitude toward his drawings, he was still more indifferent —nay, hostile—than toward his literary productions. What I could not save is lost for ever.” Max Brod,F. Kafkas Glauben u. Lehre (Winterthur: Mondial Verlag, 1948), p. 136.

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  3. G. Janouch, ibid,, p. 17. Author's italics.

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  4. M. Brod,Op. cit.,, pp. 136–137.

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  5. Excerpt of Janouch's “Conversations with Kafka” published inEncounter, issue of August 1971, p. 16.

  6. Letters to Milena, Schocken 1965 p. 204.

  7. Reproduced in theKafka monograph by Klaus Wagenbach, Rowohlt 1964, p. 117, the sketch belongs to the Wagenbach archives and is entitled: “Ansichten aus meinem Leben”.

  8. “If some frail, consumptive equestrienne in the circus were to be urged round and round on an undulating horse for months on end without respite by a ruthless whip-flourishing master, before an insatiable public...” (“Up in the Gallery”, contained inThe Penal Colony, Schocken N.Y., p. 144).

  9. See Grimm (Rheinhold):Die Literatur des Expressionismus. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1966, section III/1 “Wandlung oder Untergang”, also Walter Sokel:The Writer in Extremis.

  10. In the appendix toFranz Kafka, eine Biographie, id. p. 135.

  11. Cf. “Le soldat boit” (1912), “Der Trinker” (1911?) reproduced inChagall (Köln: Du Mont Verlag, 1961), pp. 184, 123.

  12. Reproduced inGeorg Grosz Zeichnungen, Fischer, Mai 1966, figs 10, 9, 12.

  13. Gustav Janouch,Gespräche mit Kafka, Fischer 1951, p. 74.

  14. Diaries 1910–1913, Schocken, p. 11.

  15. “‘Wüstling... For me, the word evokes the image of the desert, of being lost. The ‘Wüstling’ is lost in a desert.’ ‘Woman is the desert’, I said. Franz Kafka shrugged his shoulders. ‘Perhaps. The source of his pleasure is the source of his solitude. The more he drinks, the soberer he becomes. At last he is no longer capable of calming his thirst and thus he continues to drink without gaining liberation from his thirst. This is the débauché.’” Gustav Janouch,Gespärche mit Kafka, Fischer Verlag, 1951, p. 111.

  16. As in “Nachts”, already mentioned, “Parasiten” 1918, id., fig. 20; “Querschnitt”, 1920, id., fig. 21, etc...

  17. SecJohn Heartfield (Leipzig: VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1962).

  18. SeeLudwig Meidner by Thomas Grochwiak, Verlag Aurel Bongers Recklingshausen, 1966, fig. IV.

  19. Cf.Chagall, id. (Köln: Du Mont Verlag, 1961), p. 306.

  20. Cf.Kubin, by Wieland Schmied., F. A. Praeger, NY 1969. American edition of the book, originally published by Residenz Verl., Salzburg, 1967 and Pall Mall Press, London, 1969.

  21. Cf.Expressionism by B. S. Myers (New York: F. A. Praeger, 1956), “Masken” 1910, p. 231; “Der Philister”, p. 232; “Christmas in der Hölle”, 1911, p. 232.

  22. “The Jockey depicted in a few bold lines, almost hurled over, and the horse with head in a reversed position as it is spurred forward over the fence”, Brod,Glauben u. Lehre, p. 136.

  23. SeeKandinsky by Will Grohman (New York: Abrams), p. 67.

  24. Fig. 15 in theBlaue Reiter Almanach of 1912, Piper Verlag.

  25. Kandinsky, id. by Will Grohman (New York: Abrams), p. 99.

  26. Id.Kandinsky, by Will Grohman (New York: Abrams), p. 110.

  27. Respectively reproduced inExpressionism, by B. S. Myers, Thames and Hudson, 1963, fig. 23 in black-and-white;Kubin Mappe, 1913, edited and published by Hans von Weber, Munich.

  28. Cf.Chagall (op. cit.), Köln: Du Mont Verlag, 1961, p. 306, “Der Tote”, 1908, p. 67; “Über Vitebsk”, 1914, p. 233.

  29. Cf. Paul Klee,Tagebücher, Du Mont 1957, “Harlekinade” 1912, fig. 24; “Gute Unterhaltung” 1913, fig. 25, etc...

  30. See Heckel's “Acrobat” 1916, inDie Brücke by L. G. Buchheim, (München: Buchheim Verlag, 1956), fig. 114; also Kirchner's “Zirkusreiterin” 1912/13, id., fig. 153. The theme was also treated by Beckmann, Pechstein and Chagall.

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  31. Reproduced inKafkas Glauben und Lehre, id., (Winterthur: Mondial Verlag, 1948), p. 53.

  32. Reproduced inErnst Barlach (München: Piper, 1960), respectively, p. 5 of the Introduction and fig. 6, “Stürmender Barbar” is part of my own collection but can be seen in the print collection of the Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

  33. SeeDie Brücke, id., by L. G. Buchheim, (München: Buchheim Verlag, 1956), fig. 111, Cf. also: “Mädchen mit Turban”, 1911, fig. 127, “Hockende”, 1914, fig. 133.

  34. Reproduced in Klee'sTagebücher, id. Du Mont, 1957, “Harlekinade” 1912, fig. 24; “Gute Unterhaltung” 1913, fig. 25, etc., respectively figs 21, 8, “Virgin in a Tree” is reproduced inKlee by Will Grohmann, Abrams.

  35. InChagall, id. Köln: Du Mont Verlag, 1961, p. 259.

  36. Chagall, id. Köln: Du Mont Verlag, 1961, p. 122.

  37. Cf.Kokoschka's Drawings (London: Phaidon Press).

  38. Nelson, Cambridge, 1964, fig. 89b. Other pictures with the “propped head” besides the famous Dürer (fig. 1) are figs 118, 122, 131, 133–4–6, 139, 143. The idea that the Kafka type of gesture might be related to Melancholy was suggested to us by Professor M. Barasch, of the Hebrew University.

  39. Entries concerning Hamlet are found on April 3, 1912 and September 29, 1915 in theDiaries. At the latter date Kafka writes: “How could Fortinbras say that Hamlet had proved most royally?” In Kafka's time, Hamlet's attitude to the father had been analysed by Otto Rank inDas Inzest Motiv in Dichtung u. Sage (Wien: Deuticke, 1912), esp. in Chapter II.

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  40. The illustrations by Kokoschka for Ehrenstein'sTutbusch, inGespräche mit Kafka, id. Fischer 1951, pp. 46–47.

  41. Id. The illustrations by Kokoschka for Ehrenstein'sTutbusch, inGespräche mit Kafka, id. Fischer 1951, p. 88.

  42. Id. The illustrations by Kokoschka for Ehrenstein'sTutbusch, inGespräche mit Kafka, id. Fischer 1951, pp. 96–98.

  43. Id. The illustrations by Kokoschka for Ehrenstein'sTutbusch, inGespräche mit Kafka, id. Fischer 1951, pp. 74–75.

  44. In his entry of September 30, 1911 in theDiaries, Kafka writes: “Provoking! Listening to his many stories one almost forgets his importance” (as a painter). In a letter to his publisher, Kurt Wolff, Kafka praises a drawing used for the cover of hisHeizer story: “It is almost like a Kubin picture.” (inDas Kafka Buch by Heinz Politzer, Fischer, 1970, p. 254, note 1 — also in theLetters published by Kurt Wolff). On April 7, 1922, Kafka visited a Kubin exhibition and described at some length a “Princess on a Couch” by Kubin. On the other hand, the only thing Kubin can remember about Prag when writing a preface to the second edition ofDie Andere Seite, in 1916, is that there was there: “einen modernen Kreis, besonders von Dichtern”. Cf.Die A. Seite, G. Müller, München, 1916, p. LI. Actually, it may not have been an indifferent piece of information to Kafka that Kubin's father should have been a “Landvermesser” — Land Surveyor — a fact mentioned by Kubin in the 1916 edition ofDie Andere Seite.

  45. “Contest” and “Lively Dispute” are reproduced inKubin, by Wieland Schmied, id., figs 85 and 77. “Chamois Hunting” is reproduced inGerman Expressionist Watercolors from the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, circulated by the International Exhibition Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1969–70, fig. 32.

  46. InExpressionism, by B. S. Myers, (Thames and Hudson), 1963, fig. 125.

  47. Cf. Gesammelte Werke (Frankfurt a. Main: S. Fischer, 1950).Hochzeitsvorbereitungen, pp. 8–11.

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  48. Reproduced in B. S. Myers:Expressionism, id. by B. S. Myers, (Thames and Hudson), 1963, fig. 125., p. 161.

  49. Klee'sTagebücher, Du Mont, id. 1957, “Harlekinade” 1912, fig. 24; “Gute Unterhaltung” 1913, fig. 25, etc..., entry 888, 1911.

  50. Diaries, 1910–13, id. Schocken, N.Y., p. 10.

  51. Klee'sTagebücher, (Du Mont Verlag), 1957, figs. 15, 19, 20.

  52. This sketch is reproduced in the French edition of the Wagenbach monograph on Kafka,Ecrivains de Toujours (Paris: Editions du Seuil), p. 81.

  53. Diaries, 1914–23, Schocken, id., N.Y., p. 78.

  54. Letter quoted by Klee inTagebücher, id., Du Mont 1957, “Harlekinade” 1912, fig. 24; “Gute Unterhaltung” 1913, fig. 25, etc... entry 883, 1910.

  55. Cf.Abstraktion und Einfühlung, by Wilhelm Worringer (München: Piper Verlag, 1918, sechste Auflage. The first edition appeared in 1908).

  56. The concept of “Crystallinity” as a model for pictural abstraction was borrowed by Worringer from the work of Alois Riegel, especially from hisStilfragen, 1893 andSpätrömische Kunstindustrie, 1901.

  57. Tagebücher, id., Letter quoted by Klee inTagebücher, Du Mont 1957, “Harlekinade” 1912, fig. 24; “Gute Unterhaltung” 1913, fig. 25, etc..., entry 951, 1914.

  58. “He remained stuck halfway through, felt attracted toward the Crystalline but could not detach himself from the heavy slime of the world of phenomena” (Author's translation). In Klee'sTagebücher, id., Du Mont 1957, “Harlekinade” 1912, fig. 24; “Gute Unterhaltung”, fig. 25, etc... entry 958, 1914.

  59. Especially after his trip to Tunisia, in 1914.

  60. Cf.The Thinking Eye (American ed. ofDas bildnerische Denken, New York: Wittenborg, 1969), pp. 341, 122 and 461 respectively. “W. Gruppe” is reproduced in Marcel Jean:Histoire de la Peinture Surréaliste (Paris: Seuil, 1959), p. 148.

  61. Cf.Art Nouveau: An Anthology of Design and Illustration from “The Studio”, selected by E. V. Gillon, Jr., Dover, N.Y., 1970. One would probably find “human letters” in “Jugend”, the German equivalent of “The Studio”.

  62. See the books of Professor G. Scholem on the subject. Especially the article, “Der Name Gottes und die Sprachtheorie der Kabbala”, inDie Neue Rundschau, 23 Jahrg. 1972, Heft III, pp. 470–496.

  63. Gespräche mit Kafka, id.Fischer 1951, p. 90.

  64. Cf.Wider der Mißverstandenen Realismus (Hamburg: Claassen Verlag, 1958).

  65. Kubin, id. (English ed.), p. 35.

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Gandelman, C. Kafka as an expressionist Draftsman. Neohelicon 2, 237–277 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02093071

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