Throughout numerous pieces including the piece "Untitled" featured in one of my previous blog entries- if you look closely you can see the repetitive use of a beetle in Hannah Hӧch’s artwork. I found this rather interesting and somewhat of a hidden agenda because I hadn't noticed them upon first glance- but, then again many of her works are loaded with symbolism beyond your initial reaction. Coquette in particular features the beetle more obviously than some of her other montages. What does this mean I wondered? What I found is that the beetle also more properly referred to as the scarab, is defined in today’s terms as a metaphor for resurrection. Apparently the way it rolls the dung balls and lays eggs within the balls reminded the ancient Egyptians of the rising sun. Even though this is a modern definition, documents from the time seem to associate the scarab with death. We have to then understand that the resurrection association is implied. Hӧch had high exposure to media and the museum, so the belief it is very likely she was aware of this relation of the beetle to rebirth. With this the conclusion has come to the beetle being a conscious reference of hers to the Egyptian scarab and its meaning of rebirth. This would make sense to myself in correlation within the idea of the "New Woman". As the woman was being reborn within the context of German society, Hӧch’s beetle reflects this correspondence. Hӧch is known to have been particularly interested in the idea of the New Woman. Her feminist imagery called for a new social
order among the genders and the beetle reemphasizes the need for a “rebirth.”