Jump to content

Angelus Novus: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
KasparBot (talk | contribs)
1,549,811 edits
embed {{Authority control}} with wikidata information
No edit summary
Line 3: Line 3:
[[File:Klee, paul, angelus novus, 1920.jpg|''Angelus Novus''|thumb|right|240px]]
[[File:Klee, paul, angelus novus, 1920.jpg|''Angelus Novus''|thumb|right|240px]]


'''''Angelus Novus''''' is mono print or oil transfer method invented by and executed by [[Paul Klee]] in 1920. It is now in the collection of the [[Israel Museum]] in [[Jerusalem]].
'''''Angelus Novus''''' (New Angel) is a 1920 [[monoprint]] by the Swiss-German artist [[Paul Klee]], using the oil transfer method he invented. It is now in the collection of the [[Israel Museum]] in [[Jerusalem]].


In his ninth thesis in the essay “[[Theses on the Philosophy of History]],” [[Walter Benjamin]], who owned the print for many years, describes:
In the ninth thesis of his 1940 essay “[[Theses on the Philosophy of History]],” the German critic and philosopher [[Walter Benjamin]], who owned the print for many years, interprets it this way:


<blockquote>A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.<ref>Benjamin, "[[Theses on the Philosophy of History]]", p. 249.</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.<ref>Benjamin, "[[Theses on the Philosophy of History]]", p. 249.</ref></blockquote>


Otto Karl Werckmeister has commented that Benjamin's interpretation of the angel has led to it becoming "an icon of the [[political left|left]]".<ref>Werkmeister, ''Icons of the Left: Benjamin and Einstein, Picasso and Kafka After the Fall''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997; pp. 9.</ref>
Cultural theorist Henry A. Giroux comments: "[The image] offers us a powerful lesson about a set of historical conditions marked by a 'catastrophe that keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage' ... In the midst of such a crisis, Benjamin's angel is frozen in time, paralyzed by a storm called 'progress' that pulls him into the future without being able to 'awaken the dead' or mend the catastrophe at his feet."<ref>Giroux, ''In the Twilight of the Social State: Rethinking Walter Benjamin's Angel of History, Truthout Op-Ed 69, 4 January 2011.</ref> Otto Karl Werckmeister notes that Benjamin's reading of Klee's New Angel image has led to it becoming "an icon of the [[political left|left]]."<ref>Werkmeister, ''Icons of the Left: Benjamin and Einstein, Picasso and Kafka After the Fall''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997; pp. 9.</ref>


The name and concept of the angel has inspired works by other artists and musicians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zingmagazine.com/zing6/reviews/angelus.html|title= zing6 - reviews - angelus nova|publisher=''Zing Magazine''|year=1997|accessdate=9 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/sandh/2000/june00/munchener.htm|title= Seventh Munchener Biennale|date=4–19 May 2000|accessdate=9 October 2012}}</ref>
The name and concept of the angel has inspired works by other artists, filmmakers, writers and musicians, including John Akomfrah, Ariella Azoulay and Carolyn Forché.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zingmagazine.com/zing6/reviews/angelus.html|title= zing6 - reviews - angelus nova|publisher=''Zing Magazine''|year=1997|accessdate=9 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/sandh/2000/june00/munchener.htm|title= Seventh Munchener Biennale|date=4–19 May 2000|accessdate=9 October 2012}}</ref>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 16:15, 20 May 2016

This article is about the Paul Klee painting. For John Zorn album, see Angelus Novus (album).
Angelus Novus

Angelus Novus (New Angel) is a 1920 monoprint by the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee, using the oil transfer method he invented. It is now in the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

In the ninth thesis of his 1940 essay “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” the German critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin, who owned the print for many years, interprets it this way:

A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.[1]

Cultural theorist Henry A. Giroux comments: "[The image] offers us a powerful lesson about a set of historical conditions marked by a 'catastrophe that keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage' ... In the midst of such a crisis, Benjamin's angel is frozen in time, paralyzed by a storm called 'progress' that pulls him into the future without being able to 'awaken the dead' or mend the catastrophe at his feet."[2] Otto Karl Werckmeister notes that Benjamin's reading of Klee's New Angel image has led to it becoming "an icon of the left."[3]

The name and concept of the angel has inspired works by other artists, filmmakers, writers and musicians, including John Akomfrah, Ariella Azoulay and Carolyn Forché.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History", p. 249.
  2. ^ Giroux, In the Twilight of the Social State: Rethinking Walter Benjamin's Angel of History, Truthout Op-Ed 69, 4 January 2011.
  3. ^ Werkmeister, Icons of the Left: Benjamin and Einstein, Picasso and Kafka After the Fall. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997; pp. 9.
  4. ^ "zing6 - reviews - angelus nova". Zing Magazine. 1997. Retrieved 9 October 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Seventh Munchener Biennale". 4–19 May 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Angelus_Novus&oldid=721254440"