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Course: Europe 1800 - 1900 > Unit 6
Lesson 5: GermanyStuck, The Sin
Franz von Stuck, The Sin, 1893 (Neue Pinakothek, Munich) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris & Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why are we whispering? Why do they whisper, is it tradition?(4 votes)
- It would be impolite to talk loudly, as a lot of museums have a hushed library atmosphere to allow people to study and observe the pieces quietly. In some places it is just tradition, but some place enforce this. Also, buildings that don't have rugs or soft furnishings tend to echo so it's natural to lower your voice.(29 votes)
- Why does this canvas have such a ridiculous frame?(2 votes)
- The artist himself designed the frame.
The website in my link below suggests that it adds to the contrast, and that these heavy frames were common in Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau).
http://www.theartofpainting.be/AOS-Sin.htm(5 votes)
- Is Stuck a German name? It sounds German(2 votes)
- Franz Stuck was a German painter, sculptor, engraver, and architect. In 1906, Stuck was awarded the Verdienstorden der Bayerischen Krone and was henceforth known as Franz Ritter von Stuck. Von means from or of. and there is a city in Germany called Stuck.(3 votes)
Video transcript
(upbeat piano music) Female voiceover: We're in
the Neue Pinakothek in Munich and we're looking at a
painter who lived in Munich and worked in Munich, Franz von Stuck and this is his painting, The Sin. Male Voiceover: Franz Stuck is probably
best known as a simplest artist, this late 19th century movement that was interested in the interior self. Female voiceover: A common
theme among those painters was the femme fatale, the dangerous woman and that's exactly what
Stuck has painted here. He's given us the embodiment,
the personification of sin, at the same time as a figure of Eve. Male voiceover: In a very literal way. You have this nude famel figure
who is wrapped by this serpant that twines around her body and seems to be looking
directly at us, almost hissing, as if it might strike at any moment. In fact, the very act of looking
at her seems to endanger us. Look at the way that serpent looks at us from just above her breasts, full face. Then, the painter implies that the
snakes body twirls around her neck. It's massive body rides
down her left side, then twirls around the
bottom of her belly. It is in direct contact with her flesh. It's almost lost in the darkness. Female voiceover: If you think about
more typical representations of Eve, it's the serpent that tempts
Eve in the Garden of Eden. It's the serpent that is
the embodiment of evil and Eve who is weak and
gives in to that temptation. Here, that's not the case. She is evil. Male voiceover: He's made
her as sensuous as possible, so that we are, as viewers, entrapped. What's so interesting about this painting, is that he is very conscious
of the role of the viewer and he is engaging the viewer as somebody who is directly involved in
the unfolding of the narrative. Female voiceover: Remember
this is time of Frued. This is the late 19th century,
the early 20th century. This is not an investigation
of sin in the Christian sense, but an investigation of sin and temptation
as attributes of the human psyche. Male voiceover: Look how the artist
has framed this canvas though. We have this completely
overwrought gold frame with these two large door pillars, with beautiful fluting and an
inscription that has the title in it. All very classicizing, making sin itself, as
subject, somehow eternal. Here we have the end of the 19th century, with Christianity no longer
a primary social driver. A moment ago you talked about Freud. Freud is so interesting
at this historical moment, because the church has lost it's suprimacy and science is now moving onto the floor to deal with the issues that
religion had once dealt with. Here, we're seeing a painting where
religion has stripped out of it, but we're still left with the moral
problem of sin, of corruption. How do we now, in the contemporary
world, deal with this? (upbeat piano music)