Hermione von Preuschen (1854–1918) was a German painter, poet, and world traveler — the woman behind the Mors Imperator scandal of 1887, admired in her lifetime by Rilke, and today almost unknown in the English-speaking world. This site is an attempt to change that.
Here you will find a biography built on primary sources, a catalogue of her books with the original scans, the contemporary record of how the world saw her, and — for the first time anywhere — English translations of her German writing.
Start reading
-
On the Artistic Education of Woman (1896) in-review
Her fiery lecture to the 1896 International Women’s Congress in Berlin — a demand that the art academies be opened to women. Her feminism in her own words, translated to English for the first time.
-
Open Letter on “Mors Imperator” (1887) in-review
Her open letter answering the 1887 rejection of Mors Imperator — naming President Becker, the Kaiser's telegram, and the jury's shift from ‘subject’ to ‘unartistic treatment,’ and throwing her reputation on the public's judgment. A primary document.
-
Yoshiwara — Part One: Indra (opening) in-review
The novel's opening scene — a night train pulls out of Berlin, and Indra leaves her weeping mother for the wider world.
-
“Mors Imperator”: A Satirical Poem (1887) in-review
A Viennese satirical poem defending her — the jury allows Makart-style nudes but bans her “naked truth.”
-
Report on the “Mors Imperator” Affair (1887) in-review
A neutral Austrian art-press account of the Mors Imperator affair, capturing the confused back-and-forth over whether the Kaiser wished the picture admitted.
-
Der Roman meines Lebens (The Novel of My Life) in-review
Her posthumous memoir — a woman's life around 1900, in her own voice. Translated chapter by chapter (in progress).
Her works
-
Tollkraut
Her first collection of short fiction — ten novellas, dedicated to Konrad Telmann.
-
Via passionis
A book of 'life-songs' — her first major poetry collection.
-
On the Artistic Education of Woman
Her 1896 lecture to the International Women's Congress in Berlin, demanding that the art academies be opened to women — her feminism in her own words.
-
Noch einmal „Mors Imperator“
An elegiac poem-cycle mourning her husband Konrad Telmann, its title reprising her famous painting.
-
Flammenmal
Poems under a Leonardo epigraph — a book she illustrated with reproductions of her own paintings.
-
Yoshiwara
A novel that follows its heroine Indra from Berlin across India, Ceylon, Burma, and Japan — named for Tokyo's pleasure district.
-
Der Roman meines Lebens
Her autobiographical novel — 'a woman's life at the turn of the century' — published posthumously.