The Grotesque in German Art: Its Nature, Transformations and Importance in Aesthetics

An educational lecture, "The Grotesque in German Art" is part of Shape and Meaning, a program of educational lectures on the German contribution to the visual arts. Aiming to bridge cultures and people, this extraordinary program counts with the kind support of the German Embassy in Islamabad.



Today a new lecture was given at the Islamabad College for Girls, where lecturer Mariano Akerman met 380 Pakistani students.



Conceived and organized by Art Historian Mariano Akerman in collaboration with the cultural attache of the German embassy, Thomas Ditt, the event was verbally described by a student as "awesome."

Prof. Rabya Qadir once again gathered a great number of students and teachers from her College. They followed attentively the lecture to later ask no less than seven questions which not only were pertinent to the topic discussed but also brilliant in their nature, this being so mostly due to their engagement along the lecture and remarkable curiosity at the time of confronting the Grotesque face to face.

Mariano Akerman explored and analized two dozens of Grotesque artworks, including those important German masters such as Conrad von Megenberg, Hartman Schedel, Albrech Dürer, Christoph Jamnitzer, Simon Cammermeir, Johann Heinrich Keller, Jeremias Waschmuth, Carl Strathmann, Max Ernst, Meret Oppenheim, Thomas Grunfeld, and Ernst Kahl.

Students and teachers were interested in the interplay reality and grotesqueness. They wanted to know the function and raison d'être of the grotesque in art and whether it can be considered visionary art. They asked whether the grotesque can be seen as some sort of irony.

The event was no doubt much appreciated and even prized by the public. Bunches of flowers and numerous writen comments were handled to Ditt and the lecturer. It was a fine day in Islamabad and shining wasn't just the sun here, for today we actually had several. The day was wonderful. Simply put, unforgettable.

Event brochure

The Grotesque in German Art - Highlights

Bamberg cathedral, Princes' Portal, tympanum: portion of the Last Judgement showing the Damed (being taken to hell by a devil), 1235


Green-Man Keystone at Bamberg cathedral


Hartmann Schedel, The Monstrous Races: "Blemmyae," from Liber chronicarum (Die Schedelsche Weltchronik, Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten von Hartmann Schedel), woodcut, 1493. The Blemmyae were believed to live somewhere between Africa and India (Pliny, Natural History, 57-58).


Michael Wolgemut, "Dance of Death" (Totentanz), from Hartman Schedel's Liber chronicarum, woodcut, 1493


Hans Holbein the Younger, The Rich Man, woodcut, detail, 1523-26


Christoph Jamnitzer, Neuw Grotteßken Buch (New Book of Grotesques), Nuremberg 1610


Friedrich Unteutsch, Gristly Motif (Knorpelwerk), engraving, 1650


Johann Heinrich Keller, Cartilaginous Grotesque (Knorpelgrotesk), engraving, 1680


Johann Georg Hertel (after Jeremias Wachsmuth), Winter, Rococo Music, Fancy Dress Ball, etching, 1750-60


Death and Soap Bubbles, stucco relief, 18th century. Michelsberg Cloister, Bamberg


Heinrich Hoffmann, Slovenly Peter (Der Struwwelpeter), Baden, 1858.


Meret Oppenheim, Object (Breakfast in Fur), 1936


Max Ernst, She looked a little bit like a horse, collage, 1937


And silence is made, ad from a beer company, c. 1996


Ernst Kahl, The Fighting Dog (Der Kampfhund), on the cover of In the refrigerator light still burns (Im Kühlschrank brennt noch Licht), record, 1996. Kahl, a musician, is also the author of Bestiarium Perversum (1985). On Kahl, see Matthias Wagner, "Komik ist Notwehr" (Comedy is Self-defense), Kulturnews, May 1997.

• Remarks by Prof. Sabah Faisal: "Attending Mr. Akerman's lectures was very interesting not only for their content but also for the passion he puts in them to explain the subject matter to the audience--serious facts interspersed with some personal opinion and a touch of humour, making an appealing mix that keeps the audience's attention riveted.
His first lecture gave us a view of how to look at a picture and learn from it, while the second one was enlightening. Introducing the students to grotesque of art helps in broadening their vision and making them understand different facets of life. Today's lecture on Grotesqueness at ICG F-6/2 gave us an in depth perception of German art. It was a mind opening experience, captivating and mesmerized us from start till end. It gave us food for thought about the harsh realities of life in contrast to fairy tales. We really are mesmerized by the swiftness and flow of the German lectures given by Mariano Akerman and are looking forward to more in the series. As the lecturer himself made it clear today, the grotesque invites a search for meaning, pushing us to consider alternative possibilities. Grotesque art is thought-enlarging art; it has an immense capacity to open the valves of feeling."

Double-Edged, clip on grotesqueness in the visual arts, 2008. Featured: French Medieval hybrid; Giuseppe Arcimboldo; Italian Renaissance grotteschi (sogni dei pittori); Francis Bacon; Quentin Metsys; Keller; Quino; Roman Domus Aurea; Paul-Andreas Weber. DOUBLE-EDGED 1. Having two edges that can be used; having two cutting edges. 2 Having a dual purpose; having two meanings; effective or capable of being interpreted in two ways. Double-edged sword - literally, a sword which cuts on either side; metaphorically, an argument which makes both for and against the person employing it, or which has a double meaning. Shape and Meaning: The German Contribution to the Visual Arts - Five Educational Lectures by Mariano Akerman, German Embassy Islamabad, 3.1.2011, Education & Culture Deutsche Kunst - Form und Bedeutung. Eine Vorlesungsreihe von Mariano Akerman, Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Islamabad, 3.1.2011, Kulturelle Beziehungen (Andreas Dauth). Selected masterpieces at the German Art Gallery