Weird Wednesday

One more each from my books on Max Klinger and Alfred Kubin before I find space for them on my shelves. Each sinister image is on a similar theme - the exploitation of women by men. This is fairly obvious in the top image, Klinger's 'Caught', one of his 1884 cycle called A Life. Kubin, typically, goes much further in his horrible 'One Woman For All', dating from 1900-01, with those bestial sub-humans gloating over the bound and naked woman, who has apparently been offered to them.

Klinger was a big influence on Kubin and I noticed that another of the A Life series is entitled 'For All' - it shows the girl as a dancer on a floodlit stage, the admiration of all. Then she is 'Caught' (and ultimately falls into debauchery, poverty and a lonely death). Kubin appears to have combined the two concepts grotesquely, replacing the leering dandies with beast men who would out-Hyde Mr Hyde.

Weird Wednesday

Here are two etchings by Max Klinger. The top one is probably his best known image: it's one of a series telling the story of what happens to a lady's glove after she drops it while ice-skating. It's entitled 'Abduction'. When I first saw this picture I assumed it was drawn in the 1920s or 30s - unbelievably, it was actually done in 1881.

'The Glove' series in particular has a strong flavour of Max Ernst about it, so it was no surprise to learn from the book of 'Graphic Works of Max Klinger' (Dover, 2009) I've just bought that Ernst was greatly influenced by Klinger - as was, it would seem, every other surrealist. Notice how the two grasping hands have crashed through two panes of the window, but there is no hole caused by the pterodactyl - a proper paranormal monster!

I'd rather hoped the book would be stuffed with equal madness, but alas this is not so - not to worry, though, because it's all stunning stuff and further elements of weirdness are scattered throughout, such as in 'The Plague', reproduced above.