Behind these walls

* Images formed by the insanity and horror of the Nazi era, combined with texts from the Book of Revelation

im vierten jahr des zweiten weltkrieges, als gesichte des apokalytischen sehers grauenvolle wirklichkeit wurden, ist dieser druck entstanden.

[This print was created in the fourth year of the Second World War, when prophecies of the apocalyptic seer became horrific reality.]
Max Beckmann’s closing words (at the same time colophon) of his work Illustrations for Apokalypse.

The painter Max Beckmann (1884 – 1950) fled to Amsterdam in 1937, since the National Socialist regime had imposed a professional ban on him as a "degenerate artist". Under the impression of the cruelty of the Second World War, he created 27 Illustrations for Apokalypse in Amsterdam in the years 1941 and 1942. He was inspired by his friend Georg Hartmann, who owned the type foundry Bauer’sche Gießerei in Frankfurt a.M., which was widely known at the time. Out of the 27 printed lithographies Beckmann probably additionally coloured only five with watercolours personally.

Since he was ostracised by the NS regime, it was of course impossible to publish Beckmann's work officially. However, the artist and his friend found a way: Beckmann’s drawings were smuggled from Amsterdam to Frankfurt with the help of friends. There, they were printed together with Luther’s text on the Book of Revelation in 1943, still in the middle of the war.

Beckmann and Hartmann managed to avoid censorship by the Nazi authorities by printing an official run of only 24 specimens of the work. The censorship authority checked printed books only starting at 25 copies.

The image shows one of the 27 drawings from Max Beckmann’s Illustrations for Apokalypse. The call number is 2 L.sel.III 151. "L.sel." stands for "Libri Selecti" = the "artists’ books" of the BSB. This artist’s book by Max Beckmann is provided for free download by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in its Digital Collections under the licence CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.

• Do you wish to zoom into the picture or download it?

• Do you wish to view the complete Apokalypse work by Beckmann?

• Do you wish to learn more about the thematic field of "artists’ books"? Follow this link to the (virtual) exhibition ► SHOWCASE – Artists’ books from the collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek of 2017/2018

• The ► BSB web page on the topic of "Artists’ books" also provides a good overview.

You will never see me in flip-flops and baggy pants. I am Lady Gaga, 24 hours a day.

(From: stern no. 45/2010, 4 November 2010, p. 188)

* Singer, songwriter, actress, style icon, trendsetter, provocateur: Lady Gaga is a female jack of all trades. She likes crossing borders and has a strong sense of mission. This photo is one of 19 million pictures in our Image Archive! Every day, we digitize stacks of photos and provide them online. This photo will be available in the course of the coming year.

Core data on Lady Gaga
1986: Born in New York as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
2008: Breakthrough as singer and songwriter with her debut album "The Fame".
2019: Breakthrough in the film industry as singer and actress. She won the Oscar for "Shallow" as the best song in a film (in "A Star is Born"). In addition to the Oscar, she already has 13 Grammy and two Golden Globe awards for decorating her mantelpiece.

Lady Gaga in castle Bensberg, photographed by the stern photographer Volker Hinz, 2011. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek acquired the photo archive of Volker Hinz (1947 – 2019) , which includes around 1.3 million pictures, in 2021.
© BSB/stern Photo Archive/Volker Hinz

• Would you like to find out ► more about the photographer Volker Hinz?
• Would you like to browse the Image Archive of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek?
• Would you like to browse the stern Photo Archive?

Etymology for experts: Where does the pseudonym "Lady Gaga" come from?
"Every day when Stef [Lady Gaga] entered the studio, I started singing 'Radio Ga Ga' [by Queen] instead of saying 'Hello'. 'Lady Gaga' was actually a mishap. I typed 'Radio Ga Ga' in an SMS and it auto-corrected, somehow turning 'Radio' into 'Lady'. She replied: 'This is it.' From this day on, she has been Lady Gaga."

(Fusari: Lady Gaga – Biography, Photos, News, Videos, Reviews and Tour Dates and Tickets. Contactmusic.com, from: Wikipedia, cf. Lady Gaga.)

* A Japanese coloured xylograph by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1847)

It shows a samurai shattering a lantern with his sword. The sheet was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798 – 1861) and forms part of a series of coloured xylographs titled Seichu gishi den – tales of the true loyalty of devoted samurai.

Seichu gishi den tells one of Japan's most widely known heroic stories. It is a tale of 47 warriors who attempted to avenge their lord’s death. They finally succeeded, but paid for it with their own lives. These true events, which came to pass at the beginning of the 18th century, form part of the most popular themes in Japanese art.
 

• Do you wish to zoom into the picture or download it?
• Do you wish to learn ►more about the Japanese collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek?

The image shows one sheet of the xylograph series Seichu gishi den by the Japanese artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi, which was created in 1847.
It has the call number 2 L.jap. K 173.

Image rights
This single-sheet coloured xylograph by Utagawa Kuniyoshi is provided for free download by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in its Digital Collections under the licence CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.

And, by the way, what does "万歳 banzai" actually mean?
Banzai (Japanese, literally "ten thousand years") had many, also martial-combative meanings over the course of time. Today, its main meaning in Japan is simply "Hooray!" or "Long may he/she live!"

* Detail including the Chiemsee from the 24 Baierische Landtafeln, maps of Bavaria, created by Philipp Apian (1568)

In the 16th century the number of maps available in Bavaria was very modest. This was changed by Duke Albrecht V by commissioning the young mathematics professor Philipp Apian in 1554: Apian was to survey his duchy – and he should always be remembered for this work.

For seven summers – the winters being left out by the surveying team – Apian and his companions travelled throughout Bavaria on foot and by horse and systematically established surveying points. He noted the places, bridges and rivers, farmsteads, lakes and castles they came across. His work was completed in 1563: Apian had drawn up a map of the Duchy of Bavaria measuring around 5 x 5 metres and having a scale that was expedient for adding detail. One centimetre on the map corresponded to 450 metres. What's more, with regard to illustrations, Apian went beyond the cartographically required information: There are also animals, such as chamois bucks, or fishing boats and historical events (such as battles).

The image shows sheet 19 from the Baierische Landtafeln by Philipp Apian (call number Hbks/F 15).
The map was published in 1568 and has a total size of 156 x 159 cm.

Based on the "large map", a unique piece that was dedicated to the duke and kept in the ducal library of the Residence in Munich, Apian practically had a "paperback edition" of the "large map" produced five years later. He scaled down the large map of Bavaria, subdivided it into 24 partial maps, the Baierische Landtafeln, and had wood engravings produced of them. The Chiemsee is shown here, forming part of the Landtafel 19. Besides, this map had a larger scale: 1 centimetre on the map now corresponded to almost 1,500 metres. However, this had the advantage that the smaller maps could now be copied by means of the wood engravings produced and could be sold as maps which were easier to handle. For more than 200 years, the Baierische Landtafeln were considered as the official cartography of Bavaria. They were also used by Napoleon for invading Bavaria in his military campaigns around 1800.

• Would you like to zoom into or download the map of the Chiemsee and its surroundings?

• Would you like to browse  all 24 maps?

• How about looking over Apian's shoulder? This is a view of his notes.

• Apian also created other works, such as a terrestrial globe. It has been scanned in 3D and can be viewed from all sides in the cultural portal bavarikon. Give it a go!

* From the tournament book of Ludwig von Eyb the Younger (around 1525)

Here, the scenery of a "mace tournament" with two competing knight parties is shown. The knights each war a special mace tournament helmet with a gridded visor which should allow for a good all-around view. The publicly held spectacle is about the conspicuous helmet crests that can be seen in the picture. The objective in a mace tournament is to knock the helmet crest from the adversary’s helmet with a wooden, blunt sword, the mace.

The picture shows the sheet 14r from the tournament book of Ludwig von Eyb the Younger of Hartenstein (call number Cgm 961). The manuscript was created in southern Germany around 1525 in the German language (eastern Swabian) and comprises 136 sheets. The book measures 29.5 cm x 21 –  22 cm.

Do you wish to zoom into the picture or download it?
Do you wish to browse the complete tournament book?

Statement of image rights
The entire manuscript is provided for free download by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in its Digital Collections under the licence CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0..

Do you wish to learn more about the topic area "The world of the last knights"?

Virtual exhibition Worlds of images of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek of 2016/2017

Associated exhibition catalogue online ((in particular pages 143 – 161)

Article in the Historisches Lexikon Bayerns on the topic "Tournaments (Middle Ages/early modern era)" (with further bibliographic references)

... there is a collection of currently over three million objects, works and media items waiting for you? These digital copies can be retrieved everywhere all around the world, at any given time and free of charge from the online services of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.

Our campaign Behind these walls invites you to learn more about: medieval manuscripts, maps from Bavaria and the world, iconic photographies and many more cultural treasures hidden in our repositories.

Every two weeks, we will introduce a selected work to you, which has either already been digitized or will be digitized in the near future.

Are you curious? To take a look behind these walls, you can use our Digital Collections or our image archives.

Digital Collections
Just click on a point of interest and off you go! For a start, we recommend our highlights, such as the Gutenberg Bible or Apian’s maps, which can be selected on the start page after scrolling down a bit.

Image Archive
From Munich’s Marienplatz to the port of Hamburg, on to the 14th Dalai Lama and further on to Loriot – all of these motifs can be found in our Image Archive.

stern Photo Archive
The analogue picture archive of the magazine stern comprises about 15 million negatives, slides and prints from the period between 1948 to 2001. Here you will find all stern images that have already been digitized by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.