the life and works of sascha schneider - ETD - Louisiana State ...

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CHAPTER ONE- SASCHA SCHNEIDER: EARLY LIFE, WORK, AND TIES TO SYMBOLISM Sascha (Alexander) Schneider was born on September 21, 1870 in St. Petersburg, Russia to a German father named Rudolf and a Danish-French mother named Pauline Katinka Schneider, whose family had lived in Russian for several generations. His family was well off, his mother coming from a wealthy family and his father a print shop owner and editor. Schneider was born a healthy child whose physical resolve was damaged later by a freak injury. At eleven years old, he and his sister were jumping on their beds when young Sascha fell off and onto an upturned footstool. He tried to hide his injuries from his strict father for fear of punishment, but was eventually taken to the hospital. Doctors equipped him with an ill-fitting cast of sorts that he wore for two years. When the device was removed, Schneider was permanently crippled and suffered from chronic pain the rest of his life. 3 The back pain associated with this accident impacted his life physically, but deeper than that it created within him a fascination with bodily health and fitness as will be demonstrated in later endeavors. Despite the injury, Schneider remained active and was interested in learning much about the world around him. Schneider’s early life in Russia proved to be profoundly inspiring. His family employed a Russian nanny, who told Russian folklore stories to Sascha and his two sisters. These stories had a lasting effect on Schneider, especially the monsters her stories detailed. 4 These early influences may explain the nightmarish qualities of many of Schneider’s later works. 3 Annelotte Range, Zwischen Max Klinger und Karl May: Studien zum zeichnerischen und malerischen Werk von Sascha Schneider (1870-1927) (Bamberg: Karl-May-Verlag, 1999), 25. 4 Rolf Günter, Sascha Schneider und Karl May: eine Künstlerfreundschaft (Bamberg: Karl-May-Verlag, 1989), 4. 5
Russia’s socio-cultural context also had an effect on Schneider. He states that he witnessed “strong impressions arising from the separation of rich and poor, between the church and tsarist rule, and the first visual attacks [from within the arts] against it.” 5 He lived in Russia during the rise of much popular unrest and the beginnings of anarchist groups who tried to topple Alexander II – eventually doing so in 1881, ushering in a reactionary regime under Alexander III. He would later create an etching titled Die Anarchist (1894) that depicts a nude male with his back to the viewer; he raises a bomb with a lit fuse above his head, prepared to throw it at bearded Assyrian reliefs which symbolized authoritarian rule [Fig. 1]. The sentiment of the painting stems from an event from Schneider’s childhood, when he was only ten years old. Sascha, his sister Lilly, and his nanny were taking a walk in St. Petersburg and witnessed, at close range, the eleventh bombing attempt of Tsar Alexander Nikolayevich. The aftermath of the bombing created mass chaos, fear, celebration by some, prayers from others, and hurried fleeing by the Schneider’s and their nanny. The bombing proved effective, as the Tsar succumbed to his injuries days later. The Russian Orthodox Church was also provoking for Schneider, as well as the “cult” that accompanied it. He would often visit Saint Isaac’s Cathedral to gaze upon the “pomp and liturgy” of the gilded icons and ornate buildings, thus creating within him a taste for the religious and mystical – something not necessarily found further west in Europe. 6 Schneider found interest, not in the religious text or teachings, but in the iconography and spiritualism of the Church. As will be shown, much of his work dealt with religious figures, but in different contexts than most viewers were accustomed. The 5 Hans-Gerd Röder, Sascha Schneider: ein Maler für Karl May (Bamberg: Karl- May-Verlag, 1994), 3. 6 Günter, Schneider und May, 5. 6
Page 1 and 2: MONSTERS AND MEN: THE LIFE AND WORK
Page 3 and 4: ABSTRACT Sascha Schneider was an ar
Page 5 and 6: importance of such relationships, s
Page 7: May met at the beginning of Schneid
Page 11 and 12: intellectual and visual stimulation
Page 13 and 14: [t]he essential trait of Symbolist
Page 15 and 16: mysticism for which Schneider’s w
Page 17 and 18: Figure 4, Sascha Schneider, Eins Is
Page 19 and 20: Figure 6, Sascha Schneider, Judas I
Page 21 and 22: human emotions, and in this way bec
Page 23 and 24: Figure 8, Max Klinger, Brahmsphanta
Page 25 and 26: analysis of the painting by evoking
Page 27 and 28: Figure 11, Sascha Schneider, Der Wa
Page 29 and 30: John Heckwelder’s Account of the
Page 31 and 32: etween the years 1880 and 1893. 36
Page 33 and 34: them a scholarly appearance. 40 May
Page 35 and 36: Schneider’s history of traveling
Page 37 and 38: Figure 14, Sascha Schneider, Durchs
Page 39 and 40: May’s most popular works would al
Page 41 and 42: Figure 17, Sascha Schneider, Winnet
Page 43 and 44: working relationships. Karl May wri
Page 45 and 46: elieved that the human figure was
Page 47 and 48: Weimar, Schneider wrote to Karl May
Page 49 and 50: Figure 19, Gürtelbinder (The Belt
Page 51 and 52: Figure 20, Sascha Schneider, Kriegs
Page 53 and 54: Figure 22, Sascha Schneider, Waffen
Page 55 and 56: Figure 24, Sascha Schneider, Gegen
Page 57 and 58: Figure 26, Otto Dix, Sturmtruppe ge
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Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in the early
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focus of the new direction in his a
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Figure 31, Sascha Schneider, Selbst
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audience, including many young male
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Lewis, Beth Irwin. Art for All: The
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VITA Alice Wolfe was born and raise
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