Kurt Wanski - Internum
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The Draughtsman <strong>Kurt</strong> <strong>Wanski</strong><br />
Jürgen Köhler<br />
If the doorbell rang out with an interminable screech,<br />
everyone in our building would know it was <strong>Kurt</strong>. He<br />
kept his finger on the button until the portal sprang<br />
open. Obviously he wanted to be sure we had heard<br />
him. After all, his business was always of the utmost<br />
urgency, whether he wanted a cup of coffee and a<br />
piece of cake, or needed some cash, or it was so late<br />
that he didn’t dare return alone: the entrance to his Catholic<br />
care home was guarded by a night porter who<br />
commanded respect.<br />
<strong>Kurt</strong> came to visit regularly, ever since we met in the<br />
early eighties. We didn’t live far apart. It took hardly<br />
ten minutes to walk to the residence, and that made us<br />
almost neighbours. He usually arrived late in the day<br />
after his regular excursions into town. Sometimes he<br />
had managed to earn some money. He would delight<br />
an audience by playing his mouth organ, dancing or<br />
performing headstands. Or he might have collected<br />
some scrap in his wheelbarrow and sold it to a dealer.<br />
By the time he turned up in the evening, he tended to<br />
be laden with bags. In them were things people had<br />
thoughtlessly thrown away and which had long ceased<br />
to function as they ought. <strong>Kurt</strong> discovered these objects<br />
in skips and was always infuriated by such shameless<br />
waste.<br />
He would spread his finds out before us, celebrate<br />
every item with a detailed commentary, and glow with<br />
Beim Zeichnen/While drawing, 2006<br />
satisfaction at rescuing so many treasures from certain<br />
decay.<br />
There was everything you could want: classy clothes,<br />
toys, clocks, jewellery. Not to mention a broad spectrum<br />
of magazines and brochures packed with valuable<br />
information about politics, high society and the more<br />
licentious professions. <strong>Kurt</strong> found these especially useful<br />
because they froze the hectic workings of the world<br />
in frames. The illustrations brought time to a standstill<br />
and gave him a chance to wonder undisturbed, to<br />
investigate the things that flew by during the normal<br />
course of events, things he especially loved. The world<br />
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