Portraits of the artist:: Gerhart!Hauptmann's 'Kollege Crampton' and 'Michael Kramer'

The problematic of artistry is a central preoccupation in several of Gerhart Hauptmann's Naturalist plays. This article focuses on two Malerdramen which provide snapshots of artists at critical junctures in their lives: Kollege Crampton (1892) and Michael Kramer (1900). The study interrogates the spectrum of binary oppositions within which Hauptmann locates his painters/art educators and from which the plays derive their dramatic tension. Such dichotomies include bohemianism/philistinism, art/life, art/humanity, aestheticism/utilitarianism, and genius/mediocrity. The two plays are read here both within the broader context of fin de siecle intellectual discourse and in the light of Hauptmann's own philosophy.