Dying for their Art
August 3, 2015 5:14 PM Subscribe
in hamburg in the twenties of the past century lived a girl who was a dancer named lavinia schulz with her boyfriend, who was a dancer too, named walter holdt.
They were known as the mask dancers.
Knowledge of their astonishingly bizarre and tragic art is obscure and largely based on the rediscovery in 1986 of artifacts deposited in a Hamburg museum back in 1925.
They were known as the mask dancers.
Knowledge of their astonishingly bizarre and tragic art is obscure and largely based on the rediscovery in 1986 of artifacts deposited in a Hamburg museum back in 1925.
Those masks are... wow.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:53 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:53 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Those masks are amazing, although the part where they were apparently mentally ill suicidal/homicidal nazis not so much.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:03 PM on August 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:03 PM on August 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
While it's pretty neat that the masks survived, I wonder what became of the infant son they left behind when she killed her husband and herself.
posted by gingerest at 7:03 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by gingerest at 7:03 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
That was amazing. Thank you so much for linking this story!
posted by latkes at 7:09 PM on August 3, 2015
posted by latkes at 7:09 PM on August 3, 2015
the part where they were apparently mentally ill suicidal/homicidal nazis not so much
They predated the Nazis, who would probably have hated them, although their Nordic paganism also became a Thing in Nazi circles. Without having read the polemics I don't know if it was racist and oppressive, or merely ideological.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:19 PM on August 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
They predated the Nazis, who would probably have hated them, although their Nordic paganism also became a Thing in Nazi circles. Without having read the polemics I don't know if it was racist and oppressive, or merely ideological.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:19 PM on August 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
Those costumes and masks are really fascinating.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 7:34 PM on August 3, 2015
posted by mixedmetaphors at 7:34 PM on August 3, 2015
the part where they were apparently mentally ill suicidal/homicidal nazis not so much
They predated the Nazis, who would probably have hated them, although their Nordic paganism also became a Thing in Nazi circles. Without having read the polemics I don't know if it was racist and oppressive, or merely ideological.
I'm pretty sure they would have been lumped in with all the other artists the Nazis declared degenerate.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:45 PM on August 3, 2015
They predated the Nazis, who would probably have hated them, although their Nordic paganism also became a Thing in Nazi circles. Without having read the polemics I don't know if it was racist and oppressive, or merely ideological.
I'm pretty sure they would have been lumped in with all the other artists the Nazis declared degenerate.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:45 PM on August 3, 2015
Sounds like her family was in touch, I imagine they took the baby, he was apparently unharmed. Poor thing.
Those costumes are extraordinary. I wonder if their son survived to see them exhibited?
posted by emjaybee at 8:15 PM on August 3, 2015
Those costumes are extraordinary. I wonder if their son survived to see them exhibited?
posted by emjaybee at 8:15 PM on August 3, 2015
The Mask Dancers link tells what happened to the baby:
Hans Heinz, the couple's son, grew up with relatives of his father in Sweden and England. He once came to Hamburg to visit the exhibition of the masks and was interviewed by the curator, but of course he had no memories he could share.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 10:27 PM on August 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
Hans Heinz, the couple's son, grew up with relatives of his father in Sweden and England. He once came to Hamburg to visit the exhibition of the masks and was interviewed by the curator, but of course he had no memories he could share.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 10:27 PM on August 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
Love the costumes, but for some reason the "Springvieh" ("jumping beast") reminds me of "Fat Freddies Cat".
posted by boilermonster at 11:51 PM on August 3, 2015
posted by boilermonster at 11:51 PM on August 3, 2015
Joe in Australia: "They predated the Nazis, who would probably have hated them, although their Nordic paganism also became a Thing in Nazi circles. Without having read the polemics I don't know if it was racist and oppressive, or merely ideological."
Yeah, I was imprecise. Sorry. More like they were part of the myriad Völkisch/Ariosophic currents in Germany at that time, many of which fed into Nazism later. The Nordic paganism was one part of it, but also the love of asceticism and suffering. They might have been hated by the Nazis, but I'm sure they'd gotten on swimmingly with people like Guido von List.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:17 AM on August 4, 2015
Yeah, I was imprecise. Sorry. More like they were part of the myriad Völkisch/Ariosophic currents in Germany at that time, many of which fed into Nazism later. The Nordic paganism was one part of it, but also the love of asceticism and suffering. They might have been hated by the Nazis, but I'm sure they'd gotten on swimmingly with people like Guido von List.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:17 AM on August 4, 2015
This is absolutely fascinating, and (as we used to say back in the day) what I come to MetaFilter for. Thanks for the post, and I'm glad the stupid Nazi derail got rerailed. (Protip: Being imprecise about the term "Nazi" doesn't usually work out well on the internet.)
posted by languagehat at 7:34 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by languagehat at 7:34 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
languagehat: "(Protip: Being imprecise about the term "Nazi" doesn't usually work out well on the internet.)"
I agree, although to my credit, I was probably using it in a far more precise fashion than 99.9% of the times it's been used on the Internet.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:24 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I agree, although to my credit, I was probably using it in a far more precise fashion than 99.9% of the times it's been used on the Internet.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:24 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Can you imagine if their son did have memories of those masks and costumes? Jesus.
posted by gottabefunky at 2:37 PM on August 7, 2015
posted by gottabefunky at 2:37 PM on August 7, 2015
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I think I'm going to title my next play "Theaterstürmchen," because it's AWESOME.
posted by xingcat at 5:23 PM on August 3, 2015 [4 favorites]