The Berlin Secession. Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany

Paret, Peter. The Berlin Secession. Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany. Cambridge, MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980. First edition. Quarto. [10], 269, [1]pp. Original illustrated dust-jacket over cloth with black lettering on spine. 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. This work is 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 this book that their attitudes and the fierce resentment they aroused reflected not only cultural but also major political trends in imperial Germany. Very minor age-toning and soiling on dust-jacket. Dust-jacket in overall good+, binding and interior in very good condition. vg. Hardcover. (27583) $45