Thomas Bernhard's "Old Masters" drawn by Nicolas Mahler
A Graphic Novel for Museum Freaks
Reger, a
philosopher of music, spends every second day in the Museum of Fine Arts in
Vienna. There he sits, like a statue himself, in the Bordone hall and stares
for hours at a Tintoretto. You would assume that he loves art and especially
this painter, but far from it! He hates every single artwork. To read his
scornful remarks about art in general makes this graphic novel a reading
pleasure because it is refreshing how he breaks the taboo of not being allowed
to criticise the „Old Masters“. But behind Reger’s condemnation his love for
art shines through and after he has savaged not only the fine arts but also
literature he finally reveals the true reason for spending so many hours on
this certain bench in front of the Tintoretto...
© Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2011
This bench
and all the other typical items of a museum – frames, cordons, stairs and floor
mosaics – are taken seriously in the drawings of Nicolas Mahler as if they were
actors in a play. He uses them elaborately to demonstrate the insights and art
criticism of the protagonist. And it really makes fun to look at his pictures
of the famous paintings especially because he concentrates on the most
important features. Therefore his Tintoretto looks indeed quite poor and his
Madonna – which is critised by Reger for being fragmentary – looks, well,
fragmentary.
(There is nothing you could admire, Reger said yesterday. Nothing/at/all.)
© Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2011
Bernhard’s novel
which was the basis for the graphic novel is also available in English, published
by Penguin. But watch out! If you like it and want to visit on your next trip
to Vienna the famous bench in the Bordone hall – this hall never existed.
Thomas
Bernhard, Alte Meister, Komödie, gezeichnet von Mahler, Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin,
2011
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