BERLIN SECESSION Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany PETER PARET The Berlin Secession Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany PETER PARET This book explores a segment of German history before 1914 in which politics and art interacted. "Berlin Secession" was the name taken by a group of painters and sculptors who championed modern art against the traditionalism of the academy and cultural bureaucracy and the highly vocal prejudices of Emperor William II. Mr. Paret has created a collective portrait of these men and women—among them such figures as Liebermann, Corinth, Kollwitz, and, later, Barlach and Beckmann—who led the way to a new aesthetic sensibility. It is a central argument of his book that their attitudes and the fierce resentment they aroused reflected not only cultural but also major political trends in imperial Germany. Early in the century, the antagonism be¬ tween the secession's international outlook and a narrowly defined "German art" took on intense political meaning. The politiciza¬ tion of art at a time of assertive nationalism is exemplified by such episodes, here com¬ prehensively analyzed for the first time, as the secession's attempt to have modern art included in the German pavilion at the Saint Louis Exposition in 1904, a struggle with the government that ended in a sensa¬ tional parliamentary attack on imperial autocracy. (Continued on back flap) / 709*43 PARET, Peter Berlin secession - Modernism & its enemies in Imperial Germany 80 055n ■ THE BERLIN SECESSION THE BERLIN SECESSION Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany PETER PARET THE BELKNAP PRESS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England 1980 Cwi <r*> Copyright © 1980 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Paret, Peter. The Berlin Secession. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Berliner Secession. 2. Modernism (Art) —Germany. 3. Politics in art —Germany. 4. Germany —History- William II, 1888-1918. 5. Politics and culture —Germany. I. Title. N6868.5.B3P37 709'.431'55 80-15117 ISBN 0-674-06773-8 To Aimee and Monty