Looking Back at the Present

This article examines Hedwig Fechheimer’s 1914 Die Plastik der Aegypter ( Egyptian Sculpture ) and Tristan Tzara and Étienne Sved’s 1954 collaborative book L’Égypte face à face ( Egypt Face to Face ) and how, bookending the classical European avant-garde period, both took recourse to ancient Egypt to explain their present moment. While Fechheimer approaches Egyptian artwork via a nascent Cubism, Tzara and Sved reflect on ancient Egypt through nostalgic, Dada-tinted lenses. The presents of Fechheimer, Tzara, and Sved were rife with anti-Semitism and conflict; while Fechheimer avoids politics entirely Tzara and Sved do have a poignantly political purpose. In both cases time is folded, challenging teleological conceptions of historicity.