genius; but he has brought in oppositional elements of Gothic origin. He had set himself a high task, worthy of a German; he was to bring these two counter elements together—an aim which Hans von Marées alone has reached so far, and which hardly any one ever thought of before in the German plastic arts. Lehmbruck seemed to be the man. His premature death took him off halfway. The other Germans, like Haller, de Fiori, Renée Sintenis, and Gaul and Kolbe of the older men, all artists of respectable level, incline towards a tasteful decoration which is quite in keeping with the properties of the spatial, but possesses no essential metaphysical possibilities. Barlach, the German George Minne, one of the few Nordic-minded sculptors, possesses such possibilities, but he carries them out too restrictedly. To approach our old masters one must, like Corinth, be laden with the present.
Most Germans believe that this necessity for the contemporary can be met by an unrestrained devotion to the current issues. The experiments of the Parisian doctrinaires were more welcome to them than any great French master. In Germany to-day Delacroix is still a vague great name; and besides Slevogt, Leo von König, and Klosowski I know of scarcely a painter who has tried to reconcile himself with him and his world. On the other hand you will find a Cubist in every German nest. Because they could not follow up the traditional, this young generation among us and everywhere else exulted that tradition had been shattered. They could only gain by such a collapse. It is no accident that Cubism in Paris was decreed by foreigners. They played here the rôle of the Jews in Bolshevism.
A special task fell to the Germans. Whenever there is something in art to write about, to think about, or to theorize on, Germany applies. Berlin became the cook-house for the formulas of the new doctrines.. The unprejudiced modernism of the metropolis was easily convinced, and many an amateur who had been too late for Manet bought the new pictures before they were dry. The revolution increased still more the calories of enthusiasm. The bourgeois would not let this comfortable opportunity slip to display his progressive-mindedness. The Impressionists hatched out as formidable supporters of capital.
This attitude has done much mischief. Hundreds of little Picassos arose. Kandinsky and Archipenko became schools. Every new
