(Elena Schroll)

About the Work

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Zirkusszene (Circus Scene), 1911

Scenes of the so-called Orient were an attraction on the stages of Dresden and Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. The “Orient” has no geographical equivalent; rather, the term stands for Western desires and fantasies of escape from social constraints. The performances served generic images of non-European countries and their inhabitants and took place not only in the circus and on variety stages, but also at so-called human zoos, which Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and his Brücke colleagues visited several times.

In addition to performers from Africa and America, it was especially Indian artists who were in great demand there. Their dance performances met the expectations of the German audience for exoticism and eroticism. Since Kirchner himself never left Europe, his imagination was shaped by images he encountered not just in such performances, but also in museums and literature. The circus underwent a major transformation at the beginning of the 20th century. Historical dramas and fantasy spectacles were shown in elaborate settings.

The Brücke artists repeatedly visited Circus Sarrasani and Circus Schumann. They were particularly fascinated by the exotic performances with acrobats and dancers. In Kirchner’s Zirkusszene (Circus Scene), the protagonist, wearing harem pants and a single long feather on her head, bears a striking resemblance to the figure in Pechstein’s etching Russian Ballett III. The male performers threatening the woman with sabres also suggest that both artists saw the same performance. If so, then this is not a circus scene, as the title indicates, but the orientalist harem story of Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights, which the famous dance ensemble Ballets Russes performed at the Theater des Westens in Berlin in 1912.