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LIEBERMANN’S PHILOSOPHY OF ART
217
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LIEBERMANN, MAX. Group of 6 Autograph Letters Signed, to “Mr. Seclin” or
unnamed recipients, in German, mostly on various aspects of his views on art.Together 12
pages, 8vo or 4to; condition generally good.
Vp, 1908-25
[1,500/2,500]
19 November 1908: “What is under attack in art today is an ever-repeating appearance. . . .
How should a public understand a language that it does not yet know, understand, or even esti-
mate? Also, it is difficult for anyone to unlearn what they’ve learned, or for an entire generation
of artists who were brought up in certain traditions to be threatened by the emerging new talent.
“
The same accusations . . . which are now against us can be found in antiquity. Donatello was
accused of brutality, andTitian, he did not inspire confidence. . . .”
30 October 1909:“. . .There is only one art . . . so there can be neither moral nor immoral.A
work that is moral as such, would not be art. . . .”
“
The majority would never realize that the content in art is the form and the substance com-
pletely indifferent. It is a very noble effort to educate people about art and I think we should
not stop, even if we cannot expect success, and I would, of course, do everything I can to help,
but, unfortunately, I do not know how. . . .”
5 November 1913: “. . . [T]here can be a separation between the successful from an artistic
point of view, and the successful from a material point of view. Despite his financial failure,
Rembrandt had the highest artistic success. . . .”
16 September 1914: “Of artists whose names are known abroad, the following come to mind:
the musicians Strauss and Humperdinck; the painters Klinger, Stuck and Habermann; sculptors
Hildebrand,Tuaillon; art historians Von Bode andWölflein—Bode is especially well-known in
France, England and America. . . .”
26 July 1925: “. . . Above all I thank you for Gulliver . . . .Your translation reads like the
original. . . . How wonderful the realism! Humankind has hardly changed in 200 years, and
the ministers and dignitaries of the Lilliputians are exactly similar to those ofWilhelm II. . . .”
Complete transcriptions available.