Lecture: "Poetry and Science. Theodor Fontane and the History of Art."

Lecture with slide presentation by Prof. Henrik Karge, TU Dresden.

Theodor Fontane's poetic beginnings in Berlin are closely linked to the literary associations of the "Tunnel über der Spree" and the "Rütli," whose central figure until his early death in 1858 was the art historian Franz Kugler.

Another important art historian, Karl Schnaase, wrote a six-page expert opinion on Fontane's project of the "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg" (Walks through the Mark of Brandenburg) in 1860 and thus achieved state funding for a major literary enterprise that contributed decisively to the popularity of its author. The lecture will also uncover the political background that led to the success of the 1860 initiative. What role do historical buildings and pictorial works play in the "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg"? How do they shape the writer's view back into the Brandenburg-Prussian past?

Fontane's remarks on the former Cistercian monastery of Lehnin in the third volume of "Havelland" are a particularly interesting example: the poet experienced the monastery church with the electoral burial place still in a semi-ruined state before it was purifyingly restored in a restorative wave after the foundation of the German Reich in 1871.

Speaker: Prof. Henrik Karge, TU Dresden 

Event in cooperation of the Goethe-Society Kassel with the course of studies in art history at the Kunsthochschule Kassel.