| Antonius Holtmann: | No Masterpiece or : How
"Liwwät Böke" Was Adorned With Borrowed Plumes (2012) |
“Belder
van meine kinnertied bi hüüs in Nellinghof un Neuenkirchen”
("Pictures
from my Childhood at Home in Nellinghof and Neuenkirchen", 167- 183) and "Der Anfgang der Welt" ("The Beginning of the World")
These drawings are very similar to illustrations
that are part of two essays written by Bernhard Winter (1871-1964) (6).
Bernhard Winter war 11 Jahre alt, als Liwwät Böke (1807-1882) starb.
Bernhard Winter kann also nicht von Liwwät Böke, Liwwät Böke nicht von
Bernhard Winter abgezeichnet haben.
Bernhard Winter was 11
years old when Liwwät Böke (1807- 1882) died. Therefore it is impossible that
Winter copied from Böke or vice versa. And it is absolutely unlikely that both
of them copied the drawings from the Sachsenspiegel (1336). Bernhard Winter
copied a few drawings from the Sachsenspiegel, however marked them accordingly.
If both of them had independently copied drawings from the Sachsenspiegel,
these drawings would not have been almost identical: Bernhard Winter did not
make a tracing of the drawings but took liberties by which the producer of the
'pictures' obviously oriented. And most of the drawings which 'Liwwät' claims
to be her own show great similarities with those in Bernhard Winter´s essays,
or to be more precise: most of the "pictures" allegedly drawn by
'Liwwät' are identical with those of Bernhard Winter. There is no pattern from
which Winter and Böke could have copied the drawings. Hence not
"Liwwät" but someone else must have copied them and attributed them
to Liwwät Böke. This must have occurred in the 20th century because Winter´s
drawings were first published in 1913, i.e. 21 years after Liwwät Böke´s death.
| Winter
|
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| "Liwwät" |
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Whoever
forged the drawings in the book changed or misinterpreted Bernhard Winters
captions to them: Drawings of bedsteads which Bernhard Winter had marked as
having copied them from the Sachsenspiegel were linked to the places Bieste and
Alfhausen; a cupboard from the Ammerland region is described as a piece of
furniture from the house of Böke and a "cap of horsehair, straw and glass beads" is turned into a
"straw hat for horses". It is impossible that Liwwät Böke would have
made the mistake of putting straw hats onto the heads of horses from Oldenburg. Bernhard
Winter´s caption “Hausrat aus dem Oldbg. Sachsenspiegel aufgezeichnet durch den
Mönch Hinrich Gloysten, einem geb. Ammerländer“ / "Household goods copied from the Oldenburg
Sachsenspiegel by the monk Hinrich Gloyesten, a man born in the Ammerland"
was turned into "Hüisraad ut den Oldenburger Münsterland – de Böke 1667
bei Bieste-Herrenberg" and was incorrectly translated by "house cart
from the Oldenburger Munsterland – the Boekes 1667 at Bieste-Herrenberg";
'household goods' were turned into a 'cart' only because Bernhard Winter´s
drawing depicting household furnishings included an illustration of a cart
copied from the Sachsenspiegel. (7)
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
|
| 
|
And the
forger turned the "jüngere Form [younger form]" of a chair into a
"younger Stohl” [chair] which the translator changed again into a
"youngster's chair" and the "older form" of a chair into an
"aollen Stohl" [old chair] which the translater changed again into an
"oldster´s chair".
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
|
 |  |
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
|
| 
|
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
|
| 
|
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
|
| 
|
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
|
 |  |
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
|
| 
|
| Winter
|
 |
| "Liwwät" |
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| Sachsenspiegel
(1336)
|
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| Bernhard
Winter (1913)
|
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| "Liwwät" (1825 - 1832)
|
 |
These
drawings by Bernhard Winter are compiled in a blotter (252 pages) which also
contains 29 pages of hand-written Latin-language legal regulations regarding
state power, released persons, marital contracts, adoption and the rights of
the housefather. "All de Beller in dut Lütk Bök hewt ik moalt" (I
drew all the illustrations in this little book) is written on the last page and
signed by 'Liwwät Böke'. It is impossible that Liwwät Böke produced these
drawings herself or copied them. Interspersed with "her" drawings the
blotter contains the hand-written "Der Anfang der Welt” (“The Beginning of
the World") in 3440 verses, which are written in correct High German.
According to "her own" statement they were produced over a period of
21 years for "Natz un usse Blagen" (for "Natz and our children").
As has been
stated above, the drawings were not produced by Liwwät Böke; hence she did not
produce the 3440 verses either. "Pictures from my Childhood" and "The Beginning of the World" are plagiarisms and foreries.(8)
| Winter
| "Liwwät"
(Buch) |
|  |
| "Liwwät" (Manuskript) |
|
 |
This
drawing is signed by "Liwwät Böke" and the year indicated is
"1830". Except for minor alterations that were made – a cross was
added and a flower pot removed – the drawing is identical with Bernhard
Winter´s picture entitled "Ehemalige Webstube in Nordermoor" (Former
weaving room in Nordermoor) that was exhibited at the Great Art Exhibition in Berlin in 1898. In the
above-mentioned essay written by Winter (1913) it is shown on page 338.
 |
| Aus
der Großen Berliner Kunstausstellung 1898:
Altoldenburgische Weberstube. Nach dem Gemälde von Bernhard Winter |
 |
| Weaving and
spinning 1830. Cottage industry in
Neuenkirchen
|
Considering the fact that all the texts and
drawings allegedly produced by Liwwät Böke were never exhibited and never left
the USA it is impossible that Winter´s drawing which was exhibited in Berlin in 1898 – six years after
Liwwät Böke´s death - is a reproduction of the drawing allegedly produced in
1830 by 'Liwwät Böke'. Therefore it is certain that the drawing dated
'1830' was produced after the exhibition of Winter´s drawing in 1898 or after 1913.
[8] This
correct quotation and the complete text is the copy of a book written by
Joachim Heinrich Campe: Geschichtliches Bilderbüchlein oder die älteste
Weltgeschichte in Bildern und Versen. Mit 17 Kupfern. Braunschweig: Schulbuchhandlung 1830 (Sämmtliche Kinder-
und Jugendschriften von Joachim Heinrich Campe. Fünfzehntes Bändchen. Neue Gesammtausgabe der letzten
Hand.) (192 pages). - See http://google.de/advanced_book_search?hl-de;
write “Geschichtliches Bilderbüchlein” (Titel) and “Joachim Heinrich Campe”
(Autor): PDF). - Liwwät Boeke may have
had this book in her luggage emigrating to Ohio, but somebody in the 20th
century made a handwritten copy. (See the conclusion: Last but not least.)
