Faust (paintings)

"Faust (paintings)" is a series of approximately 100 paintings ["Nabil Kanso: Faust Paintings", 96 paintings and 8 drawings are reproduced from a series estimated at about 150 works, p. 10, NEV Editions, Atlanta, GA, 1996, ISBN 1-888536-15-2] created between 1976 and 1979 by Nabil Kanso. The paintings depict figural compositions in a sequence of scenes whose subjects are loosely based on Goethe’s Faust Part One and Part Two. In dealing with the human drama, the paintings in the series embody imagery reflecting various aspects of the entanglement of the relationship between three primary figures that may visually represent Faust, the old scholar who pledges his soul to the devil in exchange for youth and love, Mephistopheles, the Devil’s representative who provides Faust with his needs, and Margaret (Gretchen) [Gretchen is short for Margaret (Maggie). In Goethe’s Faust Margaret is often called by the diminutive Gretchen. See William Chatterton Coupland: "The Spirit of Goethe’s Faust", pp.143-144, G. Bell & Sons, Boston, MA, 1885, Harvard Univesity Press, 2007] , the young woman who is "seduced and made unhappy by the evildoer." [Kaufmann, Walter: "Goethe's Faust", quoted from p. 7, "evildoer" refers to Faust, Anchor Books, New York, 1963, 1990] ["Faust Painting", p10]

The paintings

The "Faust paintings" are characterized by intense imagery rendered with a combination of dripping paint, aggressive brushstrokes, and applying several layers of black, orange, red, and yellow colors forming agitated areas around the figures. Light seems to emerge through broken and impenetrable bars that traverse from one image to another appear to intensify the space occupied by the figures and the areas of light and dark. [Seaberg, Ronnog: "Kanso’s Work," Vår Lősen, September, 1997, p. 379, author’s translation online excerpt [http://nabilkanso.org/seaberg.html RS] Stockholm, Sweden] The relationship between the figures reveals images of tensions, pathos, and sexuality. In dealing with Faust as a subject for painting, the works "make no attempt to narrate the tales that inspired them, but dive into an exploration of the emotions of the characters." [Wehner, Rob: "Kanso’s Faust Paintings," The Bloomsbury Review, p.6, July/August, 1998]

The series comprises about 70 oils on canvas ranging in size from 58X48 inches (147X122cm) and 72X60 (183X152cm) to 74X128 (128X325cm), and 30 mixed mediums [Alkyd, acrylic, ink, and oil, "Faust Paintings", p. 110] on paperboard measuring 30X40 inches (76X102cm) executed in three phases during a three-year period of the late 1970s. ["Faust Paintings", p10] The paintings are sequentially grouped under 22 headings forming 12 sections: [Kanso "Faust Paintings"]

*1- "Faust and the Earth Spirit": A sequence of paintings with agitated rhythm and tangled webs of black paint over layers of red and yellow colors depicting scenes of dim enclosures and various gothic settings that provide the ground for the appearance of figures representing Faust, Mephistopheles, and various characters, metamorphosis, and symbols of the earth-spirit and macrocosm. ["Faust Paintings", pp.12-19]
*2- "Auerbach’s Cellar": Compositions with scenes depicting two males figures with dual characteristics reflecting Faust and Mephistopheles among revelers in a tavern and at the Witch’s Kitchen. ["Faust Paintings", pp. 20-25]
*3- "Street ": Street scenes with triangular figures representing Faust and Mephistopheles encountering Margaret. ["Faust Paintings", pp.20-25]
*4- "Garden": Images of Margaret in her room before a mirror holding pieces of jewelry, and situated with other figures. Subsequent garden scenes of dancing, promenading and embracing figures, and flora of daisies alluding to Margaret’s vow of love as she plucks a daisy pulling out the petals one by one "Loves me -not- loves me." ["Faust Paintings", pp. 30-38]
*5- "Cave and Well": The paintings depict scenes of two figures representing Faust and Mephistopheles confronting each other in a face to face struggle and fight in a cave setting as a metaphor for an underground enclave of a hideout space. The pictures are followed by scenes of Margaret at the well bathing her limbs and surrounded by a swirl of figures, flowers, jugs, and water alluding to elements of embryology. ["Faust Paintings", pp.52-55]
*6- "Evening and Night": The Evening pictures depict amorous figures in an interior. They are followed by street night scenes reflecting the killing of Margaret’s brother Valentine. ["Faust Paintings", pp53-65]
*7- "Cathedral": The paintings depict various scenes of confrontation, child birth and abandonment in compositions involving several moving and gesturing figures conveying a sense of tension and contrast between the figure representing Margaret and the various figures surrounding her with gestures of accusation and condemnation. ["Faust Paintings", pp. 55-57]
*8- "Walpurgis Night": large canvases depicting bacchanalia and orgiastic scenes reflecting the wild and festive ceremonies at the Harz mountains. The Walpurgis Night and Walpurgis Night Dream paintings make reference to Goethe’s poem containing the exchange between Faust, Mephistopheles and the naked witches [In Goethe’s Walpurgis Night, the exchange between Mephistopheles and the older naked Witch with whom he dances, contains bowdlerized words that were considered obscene and, "still omitted from practically all editions," Kaufmann, "Goethe’s Faust", p. 26] in a scene depicting the dancing couples against a background of tree trunks forming a wide open space penetrated by a spanned-wing bird."Faust Paintings", pp.73-75]
*9- "Dungeon": The images reveal two riders storming along on black horses, and scenes of the two entering a dungeon reflecting the prison where Margaret and her child are held. Subsequent scenes show the entanglement of the trio in a variety of situations. ["Faust Pantings", pp.78-83]
*10- "Dreaming of Helen": The paintings portray Helen's world in scenes that depart from the actual subject of the literary source, and veer toward mythological themes in compositions characterized by vigorously expressed imagery of turbulent figures and various metaphors. ["Faust Paintings", "Conjuring the Dream World of Helen," pp.72-75] [In Faust part II, Faust moves away from his contemporary surrounding, and ventures into the ancient land of Helen where he explores diverse relationships, Kaufman, "Goethe’s Faust", pp. 37-39]
*11- "Deep Region": various compositions depicting lovers and scenes reflecting Mephistopheles lustful and seductive encounter with the angels. ["Faust Paintings",pp.92-101]
*12- "Twilight": the paintings depict scenes focusing on a fallen, despairing, and dying figure. "Darkness and Light" is the title of a large canvas measuring 168X249cm depicting a death scene in which four female figures [The four figures allude to the "four gray women" called "Want", "Guilt", "Care", and "Need", see Kaufmann: "Goethe's Faust", pp.434-435] surround a dying male figure with one hand raised upwards toward a moon floating around a series of whirling circular forms holding within dark contours several recurring faces metaphorically representing those of Margaret. ["Faust Paintings", p.94]

References

External links

* [http://kanso.org/faust.html Faust paintings]
* [http://nabilkanso.com/faust.html Selected works]