Collection of the Jewish Museum Amsterdam © Charlotte Salomon Foundation
Charlotte Salomon, Selfportrait 1940-1942
Lenbachhaus Munich shows »Singespiel« by Charlotte Salomon
Life? or Theater? – a »Graphic Novel« from War
Few contemporary witnesses still can tell us about the Second World War. Documentaries such as the Diary of Anne Frank provide us with accounts of the lives of the persecuted. Both artistically and partly fictional, Charlotte Salomon, who died in Auschwitz in 1943, worked out her story. Starting on March 31, her Singespiel will open the door to an unadorned world of the 1930s and 1940s for visitors to the Lenbachhaus.
March 30, 2023
Her life ended abruptly and violently: Charlotte Salomon died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 26. Her escape, which drove her from Berlin to southern France in 1939, did not save her from the worst. In exile, she set about producing her Singespiel – 1325 sheets composed of drawings, lines of text, and scenic annotations in gouache to form a kind of theatrical production or script. It took her two years to finish what is still considered a modern work. The hybrid character of her life's work preceded that of current graphic novels. Starting March 31, the Lenbachhaus in Munich will honor the artist's work with the exhibition Charlotte Salomon. Life? or Theater? – It presents an outstanding artistic work of the 20th century on the one hand and sheds light on Salomon's eventful and self-determined life on the other.
Although the characters appearing in Salomon's Singespiel are based on people from her environment, she alienated the figures through fictional aspects. She did the same with her own circumstances: Salomon interwove fiction with real experiences, Nazi persecution and threats. She made references to art, film, music and philosophy, and today still provides insight into the life of a confident young woman, a contemporary witness who lets her art speak for itself. The exhibition ends on September 10.
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