Beauty and the Beasts: Darwinism and sexual selection in visual culture in the Case of Franz von Stuck’s „Fighting for a woman“

Abstract

In the painting Fighting for a Woman (Der Kampf ums Weib) of German artist, Franz von Stuck, created in 1905, are depicted two prehistoric men in competitive struggle for a woman. The notional postulates of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution penetrated in scientific circles in 19th century and finally found their place in philosophical disciplines and visual culture. Darwinism in Germany was accepted much faster and easier than in other countries because there was created especially fertile ground for that in the works of mid-century materialist scientists. In the second half of the century in Germany, there have been various archeological and anthropological discoveries that have caused numerous scientific debates, initiated by Darwin’s theory. Under the influence of natural science studies and researches of its supporters, Franz von Stuck began to create works that visualised primeval men in pursuit of the missing link in the chain of evolution. One of the main subjects of the painting Fighting for a Woman is Darwin’s principle of sexual selection, as one of the two key rules of his natural selection. Darwin developed that law in the economy of nature for the first time in his Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). As the man of fin-de-siècle, Von Stuck painted his work in an atmosphere dominated by voluntaristic and pessimistic philosophy as well as Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which further deepened Darwin’s principles of struggle for survival and sexual selection. Precisely under the influence of these ideas, Munich painter produced his painting Fighting for a Woman, which was shown at the 1905 Berlin exhibition of the Deutscher Künsterlerbund and subsequently printed in the Illustrirte Zeitung. This painting depicts two primeval men, represented like beasts, in a deadly clash for woman. Guided by basic drives and animal instincts they fight for her, seemingly passive being, who observes the outcome of the battle in the right foreground. Hominids in this work are overwhelmed by deepest inner impulses, shared by humans and animals, and these are passion and pugnacity, as blinding instincts that drive beings into action. These instincts, which were best elaborated by Arthur Schopenhauer, represent the most powerful confirmation of life, but were also the reason for anxiety of the 19th and the first decade of 20th century. Here, Von Stuck opposed two prehistoric creatures to a beautiful red-haired nude standing in graceful contrapposto. Her look resembles more the taste of fin-de-siècle than the Stone Age. This painting exactly explores the animal force and essential nature of humanity, embodied also in Friedrich Nietzsche’s Dionysian principle. Furthermore, just as Freud examined the darker sexual side of human psyche, Von Stuck portrayed the savage side of human nature, transitional state between animal and man. In the Fighting for a Woman, artist contrasted brutish and primitive nature with his image of femme fatale with pale skin, lighted by moonlight, as a symbol of feminine. This painting demonstrates how the bestiality of the combat due to sexual selection can be overpowered by the cunning and beauty, from prehistory onwards. It also speaks about woman’s controlling potency, which was deprived from her within the concept of sexual selection. On Von Stuck’s canvass one can also notice specific artistic concept that he developed, named by critics - animal dynamism, reflected in drawing techniques and poses of figures and it corresponds to Darwin’s theory of furious struggle. The main aim of this paper is determining this artwork within the social, conceptual and philosophical context of fin-de-siècle Darwinism.