Nick Bottom, aus dem Traum erwachend, umringt von den vier Elfen c. 1867 - 1868

Paul Konewka sketched this scene from Shakespeare's *A Midsummer Night's Dream* in the 19th century. It depicts Nick Bottom waking from his dream, surrounded by fairies. Konewka, a German-Jewish artist, rendered this drawing as silhouette. While the style may seem like a playful decorative choice, it’s worth remembering that Jews were systematically excluded from academic art institutions in 19th century Germany. Silhouettes provided an alternate, and less policed, route to cultural expression. Shakespeare, of course, held a central place in German cultural life. But Konewka makes the story his own by drawing on the traditions of Jewish shadow puppetry. The fairies, with their almost demonic energy, give the work an unsettling feel. Looking at the archives of German-Jewish cultural history can help us understand how artists navigated both their literary heritage and their fraught social circumstances.