Tuesday, 18 June 2024, 4:05 pm
in OE1 Tonspuren
+ available on:
https://sound.orf.at/collection/53/63148/alfred-kubin-der-magier-von-zwickledt
Alfred Kubin – the Magician of Zwickledt
An audio piece by Susanne Ayoub
With: Roman Blumenschein, Martina Ebm, Pippa Galli and Karl Markovics
Sound Engineering: Robert Pavlecka
Directed by Susanne Ayoub
Edited by Claudia Gschweitl
The setting is a medieval estate on the Bavarian border. This is where the artist Alfred Kubin spent more than half a century until his death in 1959, and where a large part of his oeuvre came into being, including his only novel, which he illustrated himself.
Many famous contemporaries like Stefan Zweig and Hermann Hesse admired “Die andere Seite” (The Other Side) and interpreted it as a visionary text. Kubin and Kafka knew each other in Prague, and their works bear kindred traits. Kubin was convinced of his contacts with the Beyond, and when people are asked about their memories, everyone has an anecdote to contribute, from a hailstorm out of a clear blue sky to conjuring spirits during a thunderstorm. Kubin wanted to be reborn as a snake, so that he could sneak inconspicuously around the house and garden. There are stories about that as well.
Maria Süss, “Mitzi Schneider,” who celebrated her 95th birthday on June 9th, knew Alfred Kubin personally. For many years her uncle sewed for the artist, who was considered an eccentric because he tipped his hat to children while out walking and gave them sweets and small pictures. Back home, the pictures got burned in the stove, those “scribbles,” as the people in the village called them. “Folks didn’t understand ‘em,” Mitzi tells me. After Kubin’s death, when they found out what his pictures were worth, they were sorry they’d done it.
ALFRED KUBIN’S HOUSEKEEPER CILLI
Cilli Lindinger was associated with Kubin for many years. After the death of his wife Hedwig, he proposed marriage to her, but she declined. She took care of him at home until his death, and for a long time after that she guided visitors through the Kubin Museum. Numerous stories about Kubin have been passed on by Cilli. Many of them concern his dealings with spirits, demons, and even the Devil. During thunderstorms, he walked out in his garden and took up contact with the Beyond. Cilli warned him and was afraid for him. In vain. But she did have one weapon against his obsession: she prayed, often a hundred Lord’s Prayers a day.
Translation Geoffrey C. Howes