Kalmuck woman
|
| Kalmuckin |
|---|
| Wilhelm Kiesewetter |
| Oil painting |
| 24.5 x 19 cm |
| Museum of European Cultures , Depot, Berlin |
The Kalmuck woman was portrayed as an oil painting by Wilhelm Kiesewetter around 1865 . Wilhelm Kiesewetter's painting for the exploration of foreign ethnic groups was the attempt in the 19th century to document people and customs of foreign ethnic groups in a lifelike way with the help of artistic painting. An example of this new task of painting at the time is the portrait of a woman from the Kalmyks , which comes from the painter's estate and is now in the depot of the Berlin Museum of European Cultures .
Historical background
The painter and ethnographer Wilhelm Kiesewetter traveled across Europe a. a. also to Kalmykia , at that time part of the Russian Empire . On this trip 19 paintings were created on the life, customs and traditions of the Kalmyks. This picture is one of the 176 paintings left by Kiesewetter after his death. Approx. In 1868 they were handed over to the Kupferstichkabinett of the Royal Prussian Museums. In 1876 this collection was passed on to the Royal National Gallery .
In 1910 the National Gallery passed the Kiesewetter paintings on to the Museum of Ethnology, founded in 1873 . In 1934 a “Eurasia” department was set up in the Museum of Ethnology. 28 paintings with European motifs were given to this department. 1990–1992 the Museum für Völkerkunde received 45,000 ethnographic items from Leipzig that had been relocated during the Second World War . This included 90 Kiesewetter paintings. In 1999, in the newly founded Museum of European Cultures, part of Kiesewetter's entire oeuvre was presented to the public for the first time.
Since Kiesewetter himself described his pictures as ethnographic travel pictures, which he made on his long journeys of discovery, one cannot speak of a classic portrait of the Kalmuck woman, but also not of a genre picture , because apart from the person it shows nothing of their surroundings. Even if the person looks in a mirror with a smile, individual facial features are unlikely, but rather typical ones. "Many art researchers tend to suspect a portrait wherever they only notice a certain degree of individualizing characteristics in a work of art [...]". The definition of the picture of a young Kalmuck woman as a work belonging to the genre of portrait painting can certainly not be grasped with the art-historical tradition of portrait painting, since this was mostly reserved for young women of higher class or served representative purposes.
This painting does not serve as a pure genre painting either, as the background does not reveal any local, temporal or cultural embedding. The picture is focused on a young woman, named Kalmückin on the lower edge of the picture, who can be recognized by her costume and headgear. The mirror is the only object in this painting.
Description of the art historical context
Dimensions: 24.5 cm × 19 cm - handwritten "Kalmückinn" on the lower edge of the picture (in the middle of the unprimed canvas).
Kiesewetter painted on the way, for example in a Kalmyk yurt . A self-portrait as a traveling painter shows him painting, sitting in front of an easel, surrounded by several residents of Kalmykia. The concept of ethnographic genre painting from Claasen's contribution “Rural Interiors” from around 1900 applies here, because both the interior of the yurt is clearly recognizable, it also reveals a distant landscape. In his ethnographic travel pictures, Kiesewetter himself classifies according to the various ethnic groups he explored, such as “From the Tartars” and “From the Kalmyks”. Its table of contents lists 15 pictures from the life of the Kalmyks. Titles such as “Wandering Kalmyks” or “Rathshütte der Kalmuck” or “Lama of the Kalmyks in prayer” also testify to his interest in observing daily life and its rituals and documenting it with paintings. The painting is handwritten with “Kalmückinn” on the front, in the MEK depot under the Ident. No. II E11 inventoried - and the brief description: “A woman looks at her face in the mirror. She wears a red-brown robe and the traditional headgear. ”The picture is part of the current (2017) inventory of 162 oil paintings a. a., who lists 19 paintings by the Kalmyks group in his inventory. His description of the travel routes can be found in Kiesewetter's notes. Accordingly, after setting out from Berlin on June 16, 1838, he traveled a.o. a. “… In March 1844 to Sarpeta, where a mission station of the Moravian Brethren was located. He then rode on horseback south of Sarpeter into the steppe area of the Kalmyks, who were still nomadic at the time…. ”Accordingly, it can be assumed that the picture was taken in 1844, because after further stops as far as the Caspian Sea, he reached an Armenian colony in the spring of 1845, who settled near the Sea of Azov. Finally, after traveling for 11 years, he returned to Berlin with his paintings and models.
In June 1854, Alexander von Humboldt wrote in his welcoming address to Kiesewetter's self-published diary “... Such an application of art, penetrating into the tribal diversity of the human race, into the inner domestic life, the customs of cultus, the physiognomy of the landscape environment a very noble - instructive purpose ... "
And his merit and legitimation of his works to mankind, he himself reflects in his introduction to the diary: “To give the larger audience an insight into the various facial structures, the manners and customs of diverse, less known and less cultivated ethnic groups, prompted me to do the same To study long-term wanderings and to present pictures true to life after life on the spot. ”His enlightening self-task and self-financing were in line with the trend of the time of traveling artist-researchers and world discovery. The circumstances under which he lived and worked with the Kalmyks emerges from one of his descriptions: “The roguish-eyed Kalmyks, who live under tents on the wide steppes of the Caspian Sea and lead a wandering life on lush grass mats with their numerous herds, showed up to me as a protector of art and the artist…. ”He tried to immerse himself in the life and culture of the respective ethnic group. With the Kalmyks he even received spiritual support in a Buddhist idol temple where a prayer machine solicited the favor of the gods for him. He developed a new tribe very systematically and tried to express what was characteristic in each case in his paintings. "As the basis of this collection (" Menschenslg. "Note dV) I first painted the Kalmuck princess at the head of her wandering horde, the interior of the Kalmuck idol temple with the assembled priests, as well as the lama or high priest. I provided the characters in several portraits, as real representatives of the Mongolian race of men; among others a high priest in his temple robe, a shepherd and a Kalmuck beauty. " He recorded the period with the Kalmyks in the description of his audience with the Kalmyks, who gave a precise insight into the Mongolian tribe, as yet unknown in this geographical region:
It describes the size and number of people and herds, their manners and customs. He reports on the hierarchy that he would have to adhere to as a painter when he writes: "... because it is not polite to paint a subject before the portrait of the princess is finished ... and after the portrait of the princess first the lama and the The priesthood (painted), then the minister with the councilors, the high and the lower nobility and finally the people. He described himself as a Kalmuck court painter. The impressively depicted scene as he was received in the tent of the princess to see her painting, announced by a richly decorated person in an equally richly decorated interior. The Kalmyks were familiar with painting, since their priests used watercolors to paint pictures of their saints and gods on paper. However, they were not yet able to create realistic images, so excited Kiesewetter Great sensation after the completion of the very similar princess portrait and he was called the greatest artist among the Kalmyks - the Anza alone hl of 19 paintings from the life of the Kalmyks is surpassed only by those of the Crimean Tatars with 33 images. He also spent a long time there - 2 years in total. (1)
Image description
In the picture of the Kalmuck woman you can see the young woman with a traditional headgear, which has an ocher-yellow color in the upper area and black in the lower part, which is closest to the coat, so that it visually merges with the black hair. A long black scarf hangs down on either side of the hat, in which the black braids are wrapped and end in black pompons. The young woman holds the braids loosely in her coarse hands. She is shown crouching on the floor in three-quarter profile. An earring is visible, she looks smiling into a mirror attached to a stick stuck in the ground. The red-brown robe has embroidered decorations in the chest area. Underneath, she wears a light-colored blouse with a collar. a. its own wool from their animals. The fabric of the robe can be identified as cotton / wool with its blunt surface. It is not silk; it was reserved for the priestly robes and robes of the princess. In addition to the sparse bustier ornamentation, the robe is characterized by its simplicity as a clothing worn by a popular woman. The representation of the common people in paintings at this time was actually not common. It is true that portraits of young marriageable women in court circles and in aristocratic families across Europe were handed out when it came to getting their female family members under the hood and thus increasing or redistributing lands, but the lower class was rare Subject of painting. The parents directed the fate of their descendants, as was the case with the Kalmyks: "So the parents choose for him (son) from the daughters of the steppe." Let men choose the bride-to-be through a fighting game ... ”He reports on a picture that he was finally allowed to paint of a girl who came from the“ black people ”and who had returned to her parents after three attempts to choose her future husband . "She had already visited my studio again, accompanied by her brother, and taken a great pleasure in my art work ... The clothing of the Kalmyk ladies consists of a short Tatar caftan and wrinkled trousers under a long blue or red robe, which is embroidered on the chest brightly colored wool and silver or pewter buttons. " In the story about the pre-wedding ceremonies and the choice of a partner, he repeatedly speaks of this girl who visited his studio tent with her brother as “... proud beauty ... who is not so beautiful, but for the Kalmyks it is … “Which he had painted some time ago and in whose tent he got lost one night and woke up next morning in her fur next to her. By ignorance of the customs and rites, he saved this girl from an alleged kidnapping on horseback, so that she was awarded to him. He was not at all happy about it and with diplomatic skill he pulled his head out of the noose, which ultimately gave the young lady freedom and she was finally able to marry her dearest boy and received a priestly blessing.
literature
- Elisabeth Tietmeyer : Kiesewetter's ethnographic travel pictures. The painter and ethnographer Wilhelm Kiesewetter (1811–1865) . Bomann-Museum Celle, Celle 2004, ISBN 3-925902-53-8 (exhibition catalog).
- Wilhelm Kiesewetter: Messages from the diary on Kiesewetter's ethnographic travel pictures. Berlin 1854, quoted from a facsimile edition of the Museum of European Cultures .
- Hermann Deckert : On the concept of the portrait. Marburg 1929; from: Verlag des Kunstwissenschaftlichen Seminars, Marburg 1929, OCLC 633802107 quoted from: Rolf Weber: Portraits and historical representations in the miniatures collection of the Museum of Indian Art. Berlin 1982, OCLC 878247556 .
- Elisabeth Tietmeyer: Strangers in Pictures - External Images. The painter and ethnographer Wilhelm Kiesewetter. In: Faszination Bild: Culture, Contacts, Europe. National Museums in Berlin, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-9806239-2-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Elisabeth Tietmeyer: Kiesewetter's ethnographic travel pictures. The painter and ethnographer Wilhelm Kiesewetter (1811–1865) . Bomann-Museum Celle, Celle 2004, ISBN 3-925902-53-8 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m communications from the diary of Kiesewetter's ethnographic travel pictures: collected during a 16-year hike from the peoples of Sweden, Russia and the Asian nomads, the Kalmyks, Kyrgyz and the Tatars, the Indian fire worshipers , the inhabitants of the Krimm, Armenia, Persia and the warlike mountain inhabitants of the Caucasus etc. A. Stubenrauch & Co., Berlin 1855, OCLC 837973089 ( gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de ).
- ↑ a b Hermann Deckert: On the concept of the portrait . Publishing house of the Art History Seminar, Marburg 1929, OCLC 633802107 . quoted in: Rolf Weber: Portraits and historical representations in the miniature collection of the Museum of Indian Art Berlin . Copy service, Berlin; Dahlem 1982, OCLC 878247556 .
- ^ Elisabeth Tietmeyer: Strangers in pictures - external images. The painter and ethnographer Wilhelm Kiesewetter. In: Faszination Bild: Culture, Contacts, Europe. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-88609-311-5 .