Seeing Ulysses: intriguing art spawned by Joyce’s novel

To celebrate the centenary of the publication of Ulysses, the National Gallery of Ireland is holding a free exhibition, Celebrating Ulysses.

The book was first published on February 2nd, 1922, James Joyce’s 40th birthday.

The exhibition, which is open and ends on August 21st, features 34 drawings and etchings by German artist Günter Schöllkopf (1935-1979), which bring to life much-loved moments from the novel. The Stuttgart-born artist and illustrator held a lifelong fascination with Joyce, and these artworks offer a new context in which to view Leopold and Molly Bloom, Stephen Dedalus and Buck Mulligan.

The selection, dating from the 1960s and 1970s and presented by the artist’s sister to the gallery, will showcase Schöllkopf’s work in Ireland for the first time. It is to become part of the national collection.

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Little is known of Schöllkopf in Ireland, but a number of events and activities will take place at the gallery and online alongside the exhibition, including talks and workshops for visitors of all ages to learn more about the artist and Joyce’s novel.

Ulysses, published in Paris a century ago by bookshop owner Sylvia Beach, is now widely regarded as one of the greatest works of western literature, which tops best novel lists and holds a record as one of the most expensive 20th-century first-edition works of literature to sell at auction after a copy of the book achieved $460,500 (€409,840) through Christie’s in New York in 2002.

The writing and publication history of Ulysses was shaped by people and organisations trying to censor it, outraged by its explicit references to the human body and its iconoclasm.

“These intriguing and often humorous artworks, in response to Joyce’s rich prose, offer a unique interpretation of various episodes and characters in the book. They reveal [Schöllkopf’s] interest in the book’s exploration of the unconscious mind, where sexual fantasies flourish, hallucinations abound and bizarre events unfold,” according to Niamh MacNally, curator of the exhibition.

Schöllkopf, who died at the age of 44, was a graphic artist, painter and draftsman, and drew his ideas mainly from the world of literature, politics, music and history. He was considered to be one of the most outstanding representatives of printmaking in Germany, and when he died he left about 1,000 works. Some 350 etchings and lithography of his printed legacy are now in the German Literature Archive in Marbach, which is considered to be one of the world’s most important literary institutions.

His works – particularly his etchings – are grouped into literary cycles, some of which include Balzac and Thomas Mann, and his work as an illustrator for literary publications includes works by Dickens, Voltaire and Shakespeare.

But the fact that when cultural journalist Irene Ferchl analysed the artist’s 70 diaries, she titled the work ‘Portrat des Kunstlers als ernster Joker’ (Portrait of the Artist as a Serious Joker – a play on the title of Joyce’s first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) – shows the indelible fascination the artist had with one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. nationalgallery.ie