The New York herald., 1922-04-09

HERALD,
New York Herald Bureau.
Berlin. March 20.
~ ERMANY since the revolution
has been the scene of an ar
- tistic war family comparable
with the fight over the music OF the
future" as written by Richard Wag-
ner. 1t is the war over expressionism
in painting and sculpture. The con-
fiict has subsided of late, leaving the
issue unsettled. SO lovers OF pictures
still are to be classified as those VINO
are expressionists. those who are real
lists and those able to enjoy the mas
ters of both schools. Expressionism'
however, has not been defeated. Inc
movement remains powerful, and per-
haps the greater part of the purchases
made by private Berlin collectors are
OF expressionistic products.
The National Gallery. opened In the
Crown Princes former palace, Is one
of the few cultural evidences Of revo-
luton in the Kaiser's empire. 1t was
installed there under the inspiration OF
Hugo Simon. for a time Prussian Min
lister of Finance. and banker belong
ing to the Independent Socialist party.
Not only were the modern canvases
already belonging TO the State gathered
there, but state money was used to
buy up some prominent futurist
paintings. Herr Simon. himself col
lector of expressionist art. left heri-
tage during his short term in office
which will be long remembered. The
Crown Princes palace is now visited
ne
more people have looked over its new
purchases in two years than have vis-
tied the classics of other Berlin gal
leries in a decade.
Case for Expressionism.
Expressionists explain themselves In
this way:
Throughout the history of man there
have been two kinds of art. initiative
and interpretative. The earliest barbaric
carvings, and even drawings on cave
wallis. can be differentiated in this way.
A savage may carve a face for the en-
joyment of reproducing thing of ma
ture accurately. or he may wish to
change its natural contours to give
vent to his own feelings, or to repre-
sent a symbol, or to emphasize the feel
one he has reproduced an impression,
in the other an expression. And this
basic difference they trace through the
history of art.
The expressionists go on to claim
Gothic art as their historical justifica-
ton The distortions in Gothic statues.
the exaggerations in Gothic paintings.
were not the lack of skill but inter-
tional devices to reproduce feelings.
instead of facts. The Renaissance was
a great sweep away from this express
sionism, just as expressionism of the
Gothic period had been a sweep away
from Greek and Roman naturalisn
And expressionism to-day, they say,
Is the same sweep away from the nat
uraiism of the Renaissance
AS soon as the public breaks the
habit of 800 years of expecting a pic
ture to be a reproduction of nature 1t
can begin to feel what the artist
feels, and free itself as he has been
liberated from the ''fetters" of think
ing always in external actualities. For
the expressionists regard their art as
spiritual. as intangible. and not. as
their foes cali it. savage. barbarous
and crude.
The Anti's Point of View.
The anti-expressionists beg the aues-
tion of the two classifications Of art.
A woman with green hair. yellow eyes
and a triangular purple nose insults
their intelligence. And not granting
the premises of expressionistic theory,
they cannot come to the same conclu-
sions. Art to them Is Interpretation
of nature. and any absurd figures are
defiances of nature and not interpreta-
tions.
The realists. being unable to relieve
in the integrity of expressionism, call
frL ..t.I . hn tl.lf
is being exploited. There are thou
sands of spurious artists to only a few
truly original minds. and the virtue
OF these few can be proved only BY
time. But for a movement TO spring
up. for exhibitions TO be dared. for
sermons to be preached against the
sacred laws of naturalist traditions. all
this is delusion. and only one Of the
evidences that Germany is decadent.
NoIde the Classic.
Emil Nolde IS the classic OF the ex-
pressionists. one of their best colorists
and clearest thinkers. possibly the sim
plest of the entire group for the Inn
pressionist to follow. His technic is free
and vigorous. and its strength lies in a
remarkable ability to leave everything
out of the picture not essential to its
central thought Schmidt -Rottlun. how
sionsts. and has had the most influence
on contemporary work. He may not be
so pronounced a genius as Nolde. A
Node picture often Is obviously a swift.
heated inspiration. Schmidt Rottluff
appears less graceful and flowing.
Haeckel. Otto Mueller. Jaeckel, Ko-
koschka. Meidner and Frau Schwichten-
berg are prominent in the Berlin cult.
Franz Mare tho cxpressionist animal
painter who fell in the war, is by some
rated as the best exponent OF the new
painting Germany has produced. Lehm-
bruch. who died several years ago, Is
undoubtedly the most highly valued OF
the new" scuptors
Whatever the permanence Of the new
art. IL has blessed Berlin with a rare
degree of intensity While other Euro
pean capitals had 70 record paralysis in
artistic activity. Berlin has been en-
thusiastic. and the very challenge to
impressionism has frightened the labors
OF most of its best craftsmen.