Faust (paintings)

Faust
Faust: Encounter with Margaret, one of the paintings in the series
Faust: Encounter with Margaret
mixed mediums on paperboard
40X30in (102X76cm), 1976
ArtistNabil Kanso
Completion date1976-1979
SubjectGoethe's Faust Part One and Part Two

Faust is a series of approximately 100 paintings created between 1976 and 1979 by Nabil Kanso. The paintings depict figural compositions in a sequence of scenes whose subjects are loosely based on Goethe's 1808 play Faust Part One and Part Two.[1]

In dealing with the human drama, the paintings in the series embody imagery reflecting various aspects of the entanglement of the relationship between three primary figures that may visually represent Faust, the old scholar who pledges his soul to the devil in exchange for youth and love, Mephistopheles, the Devil's representative who provides Faust with his needs, and Margaret (Gretchen),[2] the young woman who is "seduced and made unhappy by the evildoer."[3][4]

  1. ^ Nabil Kanso: Faust Paintings, 96 paintings and 8 drawings are reproduced from a series estimated at 150 works, p. 10, NEV Editions, Atlanta, GA, 1996, ISBN 1-888536-15-2
  2. ^ Gretchen is short for Margaret (Maggie). In Goethe's Faust Margaret is often called by the diminutive Gretchen. See William Chatterton Coupland: The Spirit of Goethe's Faust, pp.143-144, G. Bell & Sons, Boston, MA, 1885, Harvard University Press, 2007
  3. ^ Kaufmann, Walter: Goethe's Faust, quoted from p. 7, "evildoer" refers to Faust, Anchor Books, New York, 1963, 1990
  4. ^ Faust Painting, p10