Sebastian Droste (born Willÿ Knobloch; 2 February 1898 – 27 June 1927) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, actor, and dancer associated with the

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subculture of the

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in the 1920s. Droste relocated from his hometown of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

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in 1919. He earned a living as a naked dancer, choreographer and

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

poet. His first poem appeared in April edition of ''

Der Sturm ''Der Sturm'' () was a German avant-garde art and literary magazine founded by Herwarth Walden, covering Expressionism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, among other artistic movements. It was published between 1910 and 1932. History and profile ' ...

'' that same year, titled 'Tanz' (''Dance)''. A further 15 poems and ‘grotesques’ appeared across 12 editions of the journal alongside other artists and poets such as

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, Constructivism (art), constructivism, surrealism ...

and

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

. He alternated between publishing under the name Willy or Willi Knobloch. Also in 1919 he published a drama in the Dresden based expressionist journal ''Menschen''. In 1922, Droste married expressionist exotic dancer and actress in silent movies of the Berlin scene, Anita Berber. She and Droste performed fantasias with titles such as "Suicide," "Morphium," and "Mad House". Droste appeared as a dancer in the silent movie ''

Algol ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

''. In 1923, Droste and Berber jointly published a book of poetry, photographs, and drawings called ''Die Tänze des Lasters, des Grauens und der Ekstase'' (''Dances of Vice, Horror, and Ecstasy''), based on their performance of the same name. Full of expressionist imagery, the book offered a glimpse into the angst and cynicism shadowing their artistic and personal existences. Their marriage ended in 1923. In 1925, Droste met with photographer

Francis Bruguière Francis Joseph Bruguière (15 October 1879 – 8 May 1945) was an American photographer. Biography Francis Bruguière was born in San Francisco, California, to Emile Antoine Bruguière (1849–1900) and Josephine Frederikke (Sather) Bruguièr ...

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where he styled himself as ''Baron'' Willy Sebastian Knobloch Droste.''New York, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794–1943'' Together they composed over 60 photographs for a proposed expressionist film starring Drost tentatively titled ''The Way.''

UFA GmbH UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...

rejected the proposal and the photographs were instead published as part of a photographic journal in '' Die Dame'' in July 1925. Droste was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

in early 1927. He returned to his parents' home in Hamburg, where he died on June 27 of the same year.

References

Bibliography

*Capovilla, Andrea, "Anita Berber", ''Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II''. Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, eds. (New York: Routledge, 2001), p. 50-51 *Toepfer, Karl Eric, ''Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910-1935'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) *Droste, Sebastian (& Berber, Anita), ''Dances of Vice, Horror, and Ecstasy'' (A full translation from the German by Merrill Cole) (Newcastle upon Tyne: Side Real Press 2012) {{DEFAULTSORT:Droste, Sebastian 1892 births 1927 deaths Expressionist poets 20th-century poets Writers from Berlin German male dancers German poets 20th-century German dancers