Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts publizierte der in Paris lebende tschechische Künstler Frantisek Kupka in Magazinen wie “Assiette au beurre”, “Le Canard Sauvage” und “Cocorico” einige furiose bildnerische Attacken gegen eine explosive Gemengelage aus ungehemmter Profitgier, Militarismus und Imperialismus, die überwiegend religiös legitimiert wurde. Seine kommentierte Bildfolge “Religions” war 1904 erschienen. Das Werk hat einen Vorläufer in dem religionskritischen Portfolio “Die Entstehung der Gottesidee” von 1850 des linkshegelianischen Künstlers Theodor Kaufmann. Beide, Kaufmann wie Kupka, waren mit einem grossen zeitlichen Abstand in der Einflusssphäre nazarenischer Kunst ausgebildet worden, zu der sie sich antithetisch verhielten. Während Kaufmann sich weitgegend auf das christliche Europa beschränkte war Kupkas globaler Bezugsrahmen von seiner Beschäftigung mit dem theosophischen Synkretismus beprägt. Sein Verständnis für die Eigenarten aussereuropäischer Religionspraktiken muss vor diesem spekulativen Hintergrund aus heutiger Sicht als einigermassen beschränkt erscheinen. Andererseits verrät sich hier bereits an etlichen Stellen ein starkes Interesse an ethnographischer und archäologischer Forschung, das er in den nächsten Jahren vertiefen sollte.
HINDU GODS: There are as many as elements in nature. The Hindu gods are the ancestors of all known gods. A lot of work to be done, Yamantaka, Protector of Tibet, since the missionaries and the English make their fortunes here! …
YHVH (YAHVÉ) GOD OF ISRAEL: The first sole God. He created the universe in six days and enjoys himself ever since by punishing his children up to the fourth generation by imposing the patience of Job as an example.
JAPANESE GODS: They are numberless… After the Japanese has embraced Buddhism, Shintoism, and even Christianity, today its all the same to him…
CHRISTIAN HEAVEN OF THE NEGROES: One tries to force the poor blacks to believe that the good God is white while the Devil is black. Why not believe in a White Devil? When the Catholic missionaries even succeeded to give Madonna a Chinese outlook and the i
REDSKINNED GODS: From their ancestors the descendants of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayas have only taken over the boldness and the resilience towards physical pain. As the man – so the God.
TURKISH GOD: Allah is Allah and Muhammad his Prophet. He knew how to secure his existence by promising all pleasures to those who die while eliminating the infidels…
THE CREATION OF MAN: Prometheus succeeded; He wondered if he should apply a navel to his masterpiece. Yahve, representative of the Jewish, produced Eva out of a simple rib.
GOD OF THE VATICAN: The Catholic religion. The most excellent one! The sole one! The really true one! Rebuy of original sin! Purification by inheritance. Heaven! Hell! Purgatory, etc. etc… Poor Jesus! How much money was made in your name!
RUSSIAN GOD: The Orthodox Holy Trinity, the sole real one! The good Russian God sends out Holy Michael, the Holy Seraphim and all the icons of the Devil to secure the prosperity of the aristocracy and to protect Holy Russia from all revolutions…
GODS OF NORTH-WEST AMERICA: Since the “great spirit” is so superelevated, he has to leave everything to his inferior demons, good or bad ones, happy or sad ones. They condescend to do everything what man demands from them, under the condition that he enjo
GREEK GODS: They had human foibles. Zeus had a head after a long stroll on the Earth. Hephaestus had to split his skull, and Pallas dashed forward from it. All these gods are forgotten. Only Venus was able to find the bridge, which leads over to us.
NEGRO GODS: They obey, just like those Saint-Guirecs (note: of celtic origins) of which our Catholic Brittany is rife with. To secure that his God takes care of him, he lets him feel in his own way …
GODDESS OF REASON, 10th Brumaire, year II (Note: 10 November 1793, the date of the nationwide “Fête de la Raison” during the Jacobinc phase of the French Revolution): A beautiful reason, this reason here.
(Backside of the cover) Begging not prohibited