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Item Number: 137045
Title: Monster. Fantastische Bilderwelten zwischen Grauen und Komik
Author: Grosse, Peggy (et al)
Price: Not Available
ISBN: 9783936688948
Description: Nürnberg: Germanischen Nationalmuseum, 2015. 27cm., pbk., 511pp., 316 color illus. Exhibition catalogue. German text.

Summary: special exhibition dedicated to mysterious monster myths from the Middle Ages through to the present day. Paintings by Edvard Munch, Franz von Stuck and Max Beckmann are exhibited together with graphic art works by Albrecht Dürer and Federico Zuccari. The famous Codex Aureus Epternacensis can be seen, along with the unicorn of the Einhornapotheke ("unicorn apothecary") in Altötting, as well as Christian Moser's ironically satirical “Monster des Alltags” (monsters of everyday life) dating from the start of the 21st century. Around 230 works of art representing all genres – from high-class paintings and sculptures, precious illuminations and tapestries through to modern film posters and videos – trace the chequered paths of the demonisation and de-demonisation of fictitious figures and histories. A large proportion of the objects come from the museum's own collection, and these are supplemented by important loans from Germany and abroad. Monsters have captured our imagination since the beginnings of time. They embody our fears, and cause us to fear – in all cultures and in all epochs. The Christian Middle Ages saw in monsters above all a personification of the devil and of evil. This emerges in the form of ogres and grotesque beings, which populate church façades and historical writings, as well as vessels or painted panels. However, monsters have also played their role in education, or as a means of characterising terrifying or intolerable people. The exhibition deals with the question of what we fear. What turns a being into a monster in our eyes? What is striking is that it is usually the strange and the unknown that fills us with unease. However, we witness a first shift in attitude in the 19th century, when novels appear in which the main character dares to approach the strange being and make its acquaintance. The strange becomes familiar, the supposedly awe-inspiring dragon becomes friend and protector. The monster loses its dreadfulness. Nevertheless, our fascination with monsters as horror figures lives on unabated to this day in movies, as a motif in the arts or as a literary character. (^Out of print, final copies available^)

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