Der Löwe sowie Francis Flute als Thisbe (_) mit Hut und vom Wind bewegtem Rock, stehend, nach rechts c. 1867 - 1868

Curator: Looking at this preliminary sketch by Paul Konewka, dating to around 1867-68, currently held in the Städel Museum, I’m immediately struck by its dynamic quality. It seems so alive, so charged. What do you see first? Editor: The linearity, undeniably. These figures sketched in pencil against the off-white of the paper. They convey a powerful sense of movement, the energy almost escapes the page. Curator: Indeed. This is Konewka’s interpretation of a scene from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” We have the lion and Francis Flute as Thisbe, and even without vibrant colors, Konewka’s drawing carries so much of the play’s humor. Editor: Humor, absolutely. But it's cleverly concealed. We’re accustomed to grand narratives in Romanticism, yet Konewka teases at theatricality in simple strokes. The lion's posture – is it pride or comical menace? And Thisbe—is he recoiling from terror or camp exaggeration? Curator: It's in the symbols too, the very forms he presents. Notice how he positions the characters to subtly communicate a relationship between danger and vulnerability—the lion and the actor in disguise. Even a slight shift in our viewing angle and our perception of their interactions may completely change. Editor: Precisely! And there's a fascinating incompleteness. The sketchy lines, almost tentative, invite our imagination to participate, to flesh out the story ourselves. He challenges conventions, inviting you to engage deeply, philosophically, with artmaking itself. Curator: Konewka uses those rough lines to hint at an underlying connection between two characters with divergent purposes in their respective plots, an attempt to explore those fleeting moments of understanding that exists among diverse personalities, I suspect. This is, again, so characteristic of his attempt to translate those larger-than-life emotions on to the figures in question. Editor: That tension between the unfinished and the deeply symbolic is, for me, where its power lies. What a striking study in character relationships and, dare I say, proto-cinematic storytelling via line work! Curator: It leaves us contemplating not just a story, but also the layers of emotion woven into Konewka’s translation of the material.