The Gray Cloth
Encyclopedia
The Gray Cloth with Ten Percent White: A Ladies' Novel (in German
, Das graue Tuch zehn Prozent Weiß: Ein Damen Roman) is an avant-garde
novel by the fantasist and visionary writer Paul Scheerbart
, first published in 1914
. The book expresses its author's commitment to the use of glass in modern architecture, which had a significant impact on the concepts of German Expressionism
.
. In the following year Scheerbart published not one but two books on the subject: his non-fictional Glass Architecture made the case for its subject in a more rational and pragmatic basis, while The Gray Cloth provided a far more imaginative and lavish presentation of the same matter.
Though Clara accepts Krug's strange terms for their marriage, other women do not. Clara maintains a telegraphic correspondence with her American friend, Amanda Schmidt; and Amanda is highly critical of Clara's subservience in the arrangement. Later in the book, other women also protest its terms. Scheerbart provides portrayals of a number of strong female characters through the book, supporting its subtitle, "a Ladies' novel."
Krug goes to Fiji because he has an ongoing project there, a retirement home for airship pilots. He clashes with the project's sponsor over how much colored glass the building will accommodate. From Fiji, Krug and Clara travel to other sites throughout the world, to visit other projects.
Their first stop is "Makartland" at the South Pole
, an artists' colony for twenty women artists. There, a seamstress makes outfits for Clara that arrange her gray-and-white wardrobe scheme in imaginative ways. Käte Bandel, one of the artists, joins the Krugs in their further travels; she debates artistic assumptions and values with Krug as they travel to Australia and then to Borneo. Bandel enrages Krug when she convinces Clara to wear a plaid scarf.
Leaving Bandel behind, they fly to Japan; but Japanese women also react negatively to the gray and white. In the Himalayas
and in Ceylon
, Krug visits another projects; later the couple travel to an experimental station by the Aral Sea
. They also visit Babylon and Egypt. Despite his enthusiasm for colored glass, Krug turns down an offer to build large glass obelisks atop the Pyramids of Giza
. In the "Kurian Murian Islands" off the eastern coat of Arabia, Krug meets the tycoon Li-Tung, who commissions him to design houses suspended in mid-air (so that they don't scratch the majolica
tiles with which the islands are paved). Li-Tung is passionate about color, and has Clara change into more varied silk outfits. Krug allows this.
Their journey is not a parade of triumphs, however; in most places, Krug's ideas are resisted, criticized, and rejected to greater or lesser degrees. At Malta
, though, a glass architecture museum in established. The Krugs end the novel at their glass house in Switzerland.
At Babylon, Krug gives up on his determination about Clara's wardrobe, and agrees to strike the binding clause out of their marriage contract. By this time, though, Clara has become a convert to her husband's ideas about glass architecture, and maintains the gray fashion by her own choice.
at the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition
— the first, last, and only design of German Expressionist glass architecture that was actually constructed. Taut inscribed the fourteen sides of the structure with fourteen quotations from Scheerbart's works. Scheerbart's writings also influenced Carl Krayl
, Wenzel Hablik
, and other members of the Glass Chain
group.
It is an open question how much influence the German Expressionists' work had on the glass skyscrapers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
and other Modernist architects
later in the century. The modernists rejected Scheerbart's strong emphasis on the use of colored glass. In one view, though, the modernist glass skyscrapers of the mid-twentieth century "came closer to realizing Scheerbart's vision than the utopian projects of Taut and other Expressionist architects."
, though it also shares some characteristics of science fiction
(a temporal setting in the future, and advanced technology).
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Das graue Tuch zehn Prozent Weiß: Ein Damen Roman) is an avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
novel by the fantasist and visionary writer Paul Scheerbart
Paul Scheerbart
Paul Karl Wilhelm Scheerbart was an author of fantastic literature and drawings. He was also published under the pseudonym Kuno Küfer and is best known for the book Glasarchitektur ....
, first published in 1914
1914 in literature
The year 1914 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The literature of World War I makes its first appearance.*November 7 - The first issue of The New Republic magazine is published....
. The book expresses its author's commitment to the use of glass in modern architecture, which had a significant impact on the concepts of German Expressionism
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
.
Glass architecture
Scheerbart had advocated a transformative new architecture of glass from his first novel, Das Paradies, through many subsequent works. In 1913 he attempted to organize a "Society for Glass Architecture," an effort that brought him into contact with the Expressionist Bruno TautBruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut , was a prolific German architect, urban planner and author active during the Weimar period....
. In the following year Scheerbart published not one but two books on the subject: his non-fictional Glass Architecture made the case for its subject in a more rational and pragmatic basis, while The Gray Cloth provided a far more imaginative and lavish presentation of the same matter.
Plot summary
The novel is set in the middle of the twentieth century, and opens in Chicago, where the protagonist Edgar Krug has designed an enormous colored-glass exhibition hall. An art exhibit is held there, accompanied by an organ concert. Krug, fiercely dedicated to his esthetic concepts, is unhappy that the bright colors of women's fashions clash with his architectural scheme. When he meets Clara Weber, the organist, he is struck by her gray dress with white lace trim; he finds it the perfect compliment to the color effect of his hall. Krug impulsively asks Clara to marry him — providing she agrees to wear the same style of clothing. Clara accepts Krug's terms, which are specified in their marriage contract. Once married, the couple leave for the Fiji Islands in Krug's private dirigible (it has a glass-walled cupola, and air conditioning).Though Clara accepts Krug's strange terms for their marriage, other women do not. Clara maintains a telegraphic correspondence with her American friend, Amanda Schmidt; and Amanda is highly critical of Clara's subservience in the arrangement. Later in the book, other women also protest its terms. Scheerbart provides portrayals of a number of strong female characters through the book, supporting its subtitle, "a Ladies' novel."
Krug goes to Fiji because he has an ongoing project there, a retirement home for airship pilots. He clashes with the project's sponsor over how much colored glass the building will accommodate. From Fiji, Krug and Clara travel to other sites throughout the world, to visit other projects.
Their first stop is "Makartland" at the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
, an artists' colony for twenty women artists. There, a seamstress makes outfits for Clara that arrange her gray-and-white wardrobe scheme in imaginative ways. Käte Bandel, one of the artists, joins the Krugs in their further travels; she debates artistic assumptions and values with Krug as they travel to Australia and then to Borneo. Bandel enrages Krug when she convinces Clara to wear a plaid scarf.
Leaving Bandel behind, they fly to Japan; but Japanese women also react negatively to the gray and white. In the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
and in Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Krug visits another projects; later the couple travel to an experimental station by the Aral Sea
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south...
. They also visit Babylon and Egypt. Despite his enthusiasm for colored glass, Krug turns down an offer to build large glass obelisks atop the Pyramids of Giza
Giza pyramid complex
The Giza Necropolis is an archaeological site on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments includes the three pyramid complexes known as the Great Pyramids, the massive sculpture known as the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an...
. In the "Kurian Murian Islands" off the eastern coat of Arabia, Krug meets the tycoon Li-Tung, who commissions him to design houses suspended in mid-air (so that they don't scratch the majolica
Maiolica
Maiolica is Italian tin-glazed pottery dating from the Renaissance. It is decorated in bright colours on a white background, frequently depicting historical and legendary scenes.-Name:...
tiles with which the islands are paved). Li-Tung is passionate about color, and has Clara change into more varied silk outfits. Krug allows this.
Their journey is not a parade of triumphs, however; in most places, Krug's ideas are resisted, criticized, and rejected to greater or lesser degrees. At Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, though, a glass architecture museum in established. The Krugs end the novel at their glass house in Switzerland.
At Babylon, Krug gives up on his determination about Clara's wardrobe, and agrees to strike the binding clause out of their marriage contract. By this time, though, Clara has become a convert to her husband's ideas about glass architecture, and maintains the gray fashion by her own choice.
Impact
Scheerbart certainly influenced Bruno Taut's Glass PavilionGlass Pavilion
The Glass Pavilion, built in 1914 and designed by Bruno Taut, was a prismatic glass dome structure at the Cologne Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition. The structure was a brightly colored landmark of the exhibition, and was constructed using concrete and glass. The concrete structure had inlaid colored...
at the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition
Werkbund Exhibition (1914)
The first Werkbund Exhibition of 1914 was held at Rheinpark in Cologne, Germany. Bruno Taut's best-known building, the prismatic dome of the Glass Pavilion of which only black and white images survive today, was in reality a brightly colored landmark. Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer designed a model...
— the first, last, and only design of German Expressionist glass architecture that was actually constructed. Taut inscribed the fourteen sides of the structure with fourteen quotations from Scheerbart's works. Scheerbart's writings also influenced Carl Krayl
Carl Krayl
Carl Christian Krayl was a German architect and artist of the early twentieth century, who was associated with several of the leading avant-garde art movements of German Expressionism....
, Wenzel Hablik
Wenzel Hablik
Wenzel August Hablik , also known as Wenceslav Hablik and Wilhelm August Hablik, was a painter and graphic artist, architect, designer, and craftsman of the early twentieth century, associated with German Expressionism.Hablik was born in Brüx, Bohemia...
, and other members of the Glass Chain
Glass Chain
The Glass Chain or Crystal Chain sometimes known as the "Utopian Correspondence" was a chain letter that took place between November 1919 and December 1920. It was a correspondence of architects that formed a basis of expressionist architecture in Germany. It was initiated by Bruno Taut.-Names,...
group.
It is an open question how much influence the German Expressionists' work had on the glass skyscrapers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
and other Modernist architects
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
later in the century. The modernists rejected Scheerbart's strong emphasis on the use of colored glass. In one view, though, the modernist glass skyscrapers of the mid-twentieth century "came closer to realizing Scheerbart's vision than the utopian projects of Taut and other Expressionist architects."
Genre
The Gray Cloth, like other Scheerbart works, is a challenge to classification. It can be termed a fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, though it also shares some characteristics of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
(a temporal setting in the future, and advanced technology).