Schweinekopf

c. 1872 – 1874

“Critique of the Heart”: serious poems instead of picture tales

Wanting to appear more serious to his readers, Busch set the picture tales aside for a while to concentrate on “Kritik des Herzens” (“Critique of the Heart”), a collection of 81 poems; reception was mainly poor, the book being criticised for its focus on marriage and sexuality, while his friend Paul Lindau called the poems “very serious, heartfelt, charming”.

1873

“Father Filucius” appears

A satire on the Jesuit Order, the only illustrated satire of this period proposed by the publisher; the biographer Kraus thought it the weakest of the three anti-clerical works. Such anti-clerical themes proved popular during the Kulturkampf.

1874

Severe nicotine poisoning

A heavy smoker, Busch showed symptoms of severe nicotine poisoning in 1874; his alcohol dependence was growing too — the biographer Weissweiler does not rule out that it hindered his self-criticism — and he began to illustrate drunkards more often.

January – October 1875

Correspondence with Marie Anderson and a meeting in Mainz

From January to October 1875 Busch exchanged more than fifty letters on philosophy, religion and ethics with the Dutch writer Marie Anderson, one of the few who enjoyed his “Kritik des Herzens”. They met in Mainz in October, after which he returned to Bassermann in Heidelberg in a “horrible mood”; there is no evidence of a close relationship with any woman after her.

1875–1877

The Tobias Knopp trilogy

“Adventures of a Bachelor” (1875), “Mr. and Mrs. Knopp” (1876) and “Julie” (1877): without pathos Busch makes his hero aware of his mortality, and in the first part the bachelor, after visiting married friends, proposes to his housekeeper. According to the biographer Wessling, Busch became sceptical of marriage after writing it: he told Marie Anderson that he would never marry, being in good hands with his sister.

1877

A last attempt to be a serious artist: a studio in Munich

In 1877, in a last attempt to be a serious artist, Busch took a studio in Munich.