Т. 2. Азия и Африка: Наследие и современность

Секция африканистов: «Чтения памяти Д. А. Ольдерогге» Asia and Africa: their Heritage and Modernity. Vol. 2 245 Their life geographies were very different: Moholy-Nagy was born in Hungary, lived in Germany and died in USA, while Levson was born in Lithuania, lived in SouthAfrica and died in Malta. However, their artistic circles were quite similar (for example, both were friends of Man Ray) as well as their creative interests intersected in exploring the legacy of German colonialism in Namibia (what was then German South West Africa). As the case study, that I am particularly interested in, I will be presenting Moholy-Nagy‘s series of photomontages „Militarism” from 1924–1926 and Levson‘s series of photographs of Herero people from 1947. German South West Africa was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915. After the WWI its administration was taken over by the Union of South Africa and the territory was administered under a League of Nations mandate. It became independent as Republic of Namibia in 1990. The Herero-Nama war of 1904 was the most devastating one for the local population. It led to the first genocide of the 20th century, it cost the lives of an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people, or 80 percent of the Herero population. Some survivors managed to run to Botswana (Bechuanaland then) and were given sanctuary. The memory of genocide remains relevant to ethnic identity in independent Namibia and to relations with Germany. The German government formally apologized for the Namibian genocide in 2004 but has refused to pay any compensation to the Namibian people for the atrocities. Within the last two decades there has been a growing interest to re-evaluate and expand scholarship devoted to Germany’s colonial history and its aftermath. While the loss of these properties impacted national and international politics, the more telling arena in which Weimar postcolonial discourses prevailed was in the realm of popular, visual culture, particularly associated with the illustrated press and artistic avant-garde, through means such as film, news photography, posters, picture postcards, and International Exhibitions. It was at that time that member of Bauhaus school L szló Moholy-Nagy, who in 1920–1933 was living in Berlin, offered a critical deconstruction of Germany‘s imperialistic ambitions and „colonial idea“. For the comparative perspective I will use the example of completely different visual rhetoric— the works by Leon Levson, who presented highly idealistic and rather ethnographic images of Herero people. The questions that I asked myself after analysing the images, was why it feels like chronologically Levson’s works were done before Moholy-Nagy’s? Why does it feels that Moholy-Nagy’s images is far more progressive and powerful, though he had never been to Africa, comparing with the examples of completely different visual rhetoric — the works by Leon Levson, who presented highly idealistic and rather ethnographic images of Herero people. In order to answer those questions I will point out the similarities between two artists that are beyond just sharing a Jewish background, and differences which are shaped by far more important things than just geographical location of the artist.