"War da, Jussuf" (Yusuf was here). Sketch, unsigned and undated [ca. 1936-1942?].
Pencil on paper.
Minimalist inscription by Else Lasker-Schüler, depicting Prince Yusuf donning a fez, with the poet's handwritten inscription below: "War da Jussuf" (Yusuf was here).
Illustration of Prince Yusuf of Thebes, produced by Lasker-Schüler, first published on the binding of her Hebräische Balladen (Hebrew Ballads, 1913). The figure later appeared in variations in her book Der Prinz von Theben (The Prince of Thebes, 1914) and letters and postcards she sent her friends and acquaintances.
The figure of Prince Yusuf of Thebes repeats in Lasker-Schüler's poems and inscriptions, not a few times as a representation of herself: Yusuf was one of the two personas that populated her inner literary world throughout her years of creative work. In her Berlin days, she occasionally made public appearance as her alter ego Prince Yusuf, wearing male dress in Oriental style (see sidebar).
See:
• Drawings: Else Lasker-Schüler, exhibit catalog, Israel Museum, 1975, no. 42, and invitation to exhibition. The present illustration is printed in the inner cover of the catalog, and one detail from it appears on the invitation (both together form the present item).
• Else Lasker-Schüler: Die Bilder, exhibit catalog, Berlin: Jüdischer Verlag im Suhrkamp Verlag, [2010], no. 189.
21X18 cm. Good condition. Light stains. Folding marks lengthwise and widthwise. Open tear to top left corner, not affecting sketch. Uneven trimming. Matted. Frame: 37X47.5 cm.
Provenance:
1. Erich Gottgetreu, Jerusalem.
2. Zvi Barsky, Jerusalem.
Else Lasker-Schüler
(1869-1945), born in Elberfeld (now a quarter of Wuppertal), she relocated to Berlin after her marriage to the physician Berthold Lasker, where she dedicated her time to studying drawing. In 1899 she gave birth to her son Paul. That year, she published her earliest poems in Die Gesellschaft. In 1902, her first poetry collection, Styx, was published, earning some recognition. After her divorce, she remarried to Herwarth Walden (a pseudonym of Georg Lewin), editor of the expressionist magazine Der Sturm.
In 1906, her first prose book was published, Das Peter-Hille-Buch, followed by many other works. In addition to her poetry and prose, Lasker-Schüler also authored essays and theater and literary reviews. She was known for her eccentricity, and her appearance and dress challenged reigning social conventions and gender roles.
Upon the death of her son in 1927, she gradually disappeared from the public stage. In 1932 she was awarded the Kleist Prize for her oeuvre, but the very next year, with the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, she fled to Switzerland and later immigrated to Eretz Israel. She passed away in Jerusalem in 1945.
Irit Salmon writes of the figure of Yusuf of Thebes: "Lasker-Schüler lived in Berlin from 1894. She visited the Egyptian Museum, where she saw the collection of finds from the Necropolis of Thebes… It is easy to imagine Lasker-Schüler standing breathtaken looking at this art, colored blue, yellow and red, full of vitality and expression – and its themes – including androgyny – packed with tenderness and emotion. The influence of this culture on her is discernible in various places, primarily in her adoption of the figure of Prince Yusuf of Thebes… Lasker-Schüler cast into this early Egyptian figure the figure of the modern Arab or Bedouin, who, like her, wandered from one place to another, and the figure of Joseph the dreamer. Joseph, for her, represents the artist at the peak of his art, dreams and imagination, betrayed, but eventually achieving greatness. Joseph is also a figure representing wandering and the constant search for the native land… By choosing an androgynous figure in her art and work, Lasker-Schüler expresses a rebellion against contemporary norms that assign to woman a passive and marginal role that Lasker-Schüler refused to fulfill. The use of Yusuf allowed her to depict herself as she wished to be: an artist unbound by social norms and boundaries, and a universal figure uniting both sexes, the three monotheistic religions, and the ancient with the modern…" (from Else Lasker-Schüler, Poet-Artist, Hecht Museum exhibit catalog, Haifa University, 2006).
