Art in a Large Edition

More and more, works of art from the collection of the Deutsche Bank are appearing on the covers of books

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage / And then is heard no more. It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury / Signifying nothing."
Don't verses such as these from Macbeth speak for themselves? Shouldn't we be reading something by Shakespeare again, instead of about Shakespeare? Whoever consults Ulrich Suerbaum's Shakespeare guide will soon have to embark on his own exploratory tour through the Elizabethan's dramatic universe. It's no coincidence that a work of art from the collection of the Deutsche Bank should adorn the cover of this Reclam volume – one that carries a deeper meaning. Mutable shadow images, fame, and mortality: this is not a illustration of a historical painting, but of a wax likeness of William Shakespeare, photographed by the Japanese photo artist Hiroshi Sugimoto for his Portraits series. Sugimoto's works can presently be seen in the Singapore Art Museum. With almost hallucinatory precision, the artist's portrait gallery sheds new light on the wax figures of famous personalities such as Henry VIII, William Shakespeare, or Fidel Castro.

With the collection of the Deutsche Bank, the connections between art and literature are evident: increasingly, works on paper from the collection are appearing on book covers and reaching various parts of the world in large editions.

Artists from the collection are especially popular on the Spanish book market: thus, variations of Helmut Middendorf's Umarmung der Nacht adorn both Emile Ajar's La vida ante si and the Spanish edition of Marguerite Duras' Les Yeux bleus cheveux noirs, while Peter Chevalier's Picasso Head embellishes Juan Goytisolo's novel Coto Vedado.