Abb. 1 Auguste Renoir Diana Diana 1867 Öl auf Leinwand 197 × 132 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Otto Dix (1891–1969, fig. p. 28), which depicts, among other things, the traditional masked figure of the so-called Schuttig. The Greek painter Dimitris Tzamouranis (b. 1967) was also inspired to create a series of mask paintings (fig. p. 32, 33) after he had experienced this generic tomfoolery himself; among others, he depicted a variation of the Schuttig, the Rägemolli (newt). In addition, Anna and Michael Haas have also collected historical masks made by anonymous craftsmen and women from other regions, such as a nineteenth-century “South German Mask” (fig. p. 37), an “Alpine Mask” (fig. p. 29),1 or a seventeenth/ eighteenth-century “Devil” (fig. p. 91). From this list alone, the peculiarities that have guided the couple’s collecting activity over the years are manifest: on the one hand, the objects are not exclusively made by artists; they can equally originate from a handcraft milieu, industrial production and applied art, or serve specific functions, such as the decoration of buildings. In fact, the individual renown of the artists by no means plays a role in their inclusion in the collection. What matters most to Anna and Michael Haas is the uniqueness that a given work can contribute with regard to the subject matter, and that is why the only thing that matters for them is the specific object in question, whereby, in quite a number of cases, the artist’s identity remains anonymous. On the other hand, the fact that the objects were made in different epochs is also a salient consideration. The earliest exhibit shown in the exhibition dates from the second half of the fourteenth century (“Grimace”, fig. p. 93). It may well have served as a sculptural, decorative element on an ecclesiastical or secular building. The gaze of this visage, carved in stone and emanating from empty eye sockets that only contain the irises, stares out at us, then as now, with a magically watchful and admonitory intensity. Comparable in form to architectural ornamentation, the “Green Man” (fig. p. 72), dating from the sixteenth century, embodies a visceral connection to the natural world. In the Middle Ages and early modern period, the Green Man was a common, ubiquitous symbol, particularly the British Isles, cropping up on keystones and choir stalls everywhere. The beard and hair of this wild persona often take the shape of leaves.
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