Imperatore, Beachcomber and Imp – Else Lasker-Schüler’s Unpublished Letters
“So keep Yusuf, the beachcomber of Thebes, in your good graces.” These are poet Else Lasker-Schüler’s concluding words in a letter that she wrote to her friends, the married couple Tilla Durieux and Paul Cassirer, illustrated with one of her famous Yusuf heads. “Yusuf” or “Yussuff”, Prince of Thebes, was the poet’s nom de plume, which she used both in her prose and everyday life. In her novel, Der Malik: Eine Kaisergeschichte, this connection is made explicit in the author’s bringing together, in her kingdom of Thebes, of both her living friends and those who died in the First World War. 1
Else Lasker-Schüler and Tilla Durieux were among the most colourful artists on Berlin’s bohemian scene. Their spouses, Herwarth Walden and Paul Cassirer, were important gallery owners in their day. While Lasker-Schüler established herself with her poetry as a literary Expressionist, Durieux enjoyed an artistic breakthrough playing the part of Salomé in 1903 and became one of Berlin’s best-known theatre performers. Their existence was defined not only by their artistic activity but also by their deep appreciation of the new literature and painting of the time. Their circles of friends are a who’s who of the art scene in the Weimar Republic. “Else loved P.[Paul] C.[Cassirer]”, noted Durieux in her memoir Eine Tür steht offen, “and showered him with letters. But in all fairness, I must concede that she did not hate me as a necessary consequence of her infatuation.”2 In her letters, Lasker-Schüler regularly described the actress as “impishly generous” – when thanking her, for example, for her financial contributions. Cassirer is often called “Imperatore”. She held the two of them in equal esteem. However, in this letter, she also adopts a critical tone in her characterisations of her patron and publisher as she attempts to say “something good”. “The diverse tides within Paul Cassirer shift back and forth with an elemental quality. He bedevils himself with his own doctrines and cannot rid himself of a sixth-former attitude.” Lasker-Schüler was evidently in negotiation with him about the publication of her works. “I know that you make it a point of honour to represent my books through your publishing house, and this is a source of great pride for me.” Cassirer published her collected works in ten volumes between 1919 and 1920.3
Like other letters by the poet, the unpublished manuscript, probably written in 1919, comes from Durieux’s partial estate. This estate was recently acquired from Zagreb, her place of exile, by the Akademie der Künste – with support from the Kulturstiftung der Länder (Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States). The newly discovered series of letters between Lasker-Schüler, Cassirer and Durieux has now been added to the Tilla Durieux Archive, attesting to the artistic and friendly ties within the avant-garde in the “orbiting world factory” of Berlin.4 In it, Lasker-Schüler writes about her life and her poetry, expressing gratitude for the financial donations she received and marvelling at Durieux’s acting prowess. She pays homage to various artists not only in letters but also in the form of lyrical portraits, one of which she wrote for Durieux in 1920. A typescript of this poem about the actress, handwritten with revisions by Else Lasker-Schüler, can likewise be found in the Tilla Durieux Archive.5 The written homages also include an essay entitled “Tilla Durieux”, in which she writes about Durieux’s arrival at a Secession gala: “Resplendent simplicity, sinuous charm, delicate nerves bloom painfully in her heart. But when midnight came, she danced, rolling on a pearl of champagne, her eyes radiant in the colourful play of masks.”6 Durieux, in turn, meets Lasker-Schüler in one of the artists’ bars frequented by the Berlin avant-garde: “In the ‘Café des Westens’, where the bohemians, both talented and untalented, come to gather, one could see the most curious apparitions. … One of the most remarkable of these was Else Lasker-Schüler. She was indisputably a major talent and illustrated her stories and poems in a singular fashion.”7
All of the quotes cited here are translations from the original German.
1) Else Lasker-Schüler. Die kreisende Weltfabrik. Berliner Ansichten und Porträts, Heidrun Loeper (ed.), Berlin 2012, p. 102.
2) Tilla Durieux, Eine Tür steht offen. Erinnerungen, Berlin 1965, p. 108. IThe fragmentary typescript was probably the first draft of her memoirs – in it she writes, “In all fairness, I must concede that she did not hate me as a necessary consequence of her infatuation but instead made me a present of a very beautiful poem about me and a number of short articles that appeared in the newspapers.” Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Tilla Durieux Archive, no. 716, p. 180.
3) Antje Birthälmer (ed.), Else Lasker-Schüler. „Prinz Jussuf von Theben“ und die Avantgarde exh. cat., Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, Wuppertal, 2019, p. 35.
4) Else Lasker-Schüler, Die kreisende Weltfabrik, in: Loeper 2012, see note 1, p. 76f.
5) Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Tilla-Durieux-Archiv, no. 694.
6) Else Lasker-Schüler, Tilla Durieux, see note 1, p. 38f.
7) Durieux, see note 2, p. 107. In the fragmentary typescript of her memoirs, Tilla Durieux described Else Lasker-Schüler’s illustrations as “quirky”. Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Tilla Durieux Archive, no. 716, p. 178.
Author: Katja Weingartshofer, archivist in the Performing Arts Archives, Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
Published in: Journal der Künste 21, November 2023, p. 64-65