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Rebus and Realism: A Prolegomenon to the “Work” of Adolph Menzel

Abstract Adolph Menzel (1815–1905), the renowned realist and painter of Prussian history, had a surprising penchant for rebus puzzles. Relatively unknown and unstudied, Menzel’s rebuses open the door to a radical reevaluation of his realism. Analysis of these puzzles and their historical affiliation with the concepts of Phantasie (imagination) and Bildung (self-cultivation), establishes them as a valuable heuristic for understanding Menzel’s various processes of “work,” and their significance for the viewer. Aligning realism with the concept of Bildung, Menzel’s rebuses reveal his realism to be a program of aesthetic education with formidable cultural and political implications.