Ein Fest der Künste: Paul Cassirer. Der Kunsthändler als Verleger by Rahel E. Feilchenfeldt, Thomas Raff

Abstract

28o Reviews Ein Fest der Kzinste: Paul Cassirer. Der Kunsthdndler als Verleger. Ed. by RAHEL E. FEILCHENFELDT and THOMAS RAFF. Munich: Beck. 2006. 423 pp. ?29.90. ISBN 978-3-406-54086-8. The natural follow-on from the bibliography of the Paul Cassirer Verlag edited by Rahel E. Feilchenfeldt and Markus Brandis (Munich: Saur, 2002), this volume was produced to accompany the splendid exhibition ofworks of art, books, and memora bilia associated with Paul Cassirer thepublisher andmounted inBerlin and Frankfurt in 2oo6. The sheer wealth ofmaterial frompublic and private collections displayed there can only be guessed at from the illustrations in this lavishly presented book. They include, beside images ofCassirer himself (byKalckreuth and Beckmann) and of the irrepressibleTilla Durieux, his second wife (byCorinth andMax Oppenheimer), portraits of Peter Hille, JuliusMaier-Graefe, Karl Kraus, Heinrich Mann, Rene Schickele, Ferruccio Busoni, Richard Strauss, and Ernst Bloch. Artists not already mentioned include the two older stars of thePaul Cassirer Verlag, Max Liebermann andMax Slevogt, the twoyounger leading lights,Barlach and Kokoschka, and many others (Gaul, Kolbe, Meidner). These names, and their relationship to and collabora tionwith Paul Cassirer, set the tone forthe twenty-fiveessays that make up thevolume. From a large assimilated Jewish family of successful industrialists, Paul Cassirer (I871-1926) firstmade his name as an art dealer ('Durch Manet und Monet zu money', as one caricature puts it).He soon branched out into art publishing, at first with his cousin Bruno (from I898 to I901 ),mainly reproducing works by theBerlin 'Sezession' and its leader Liebermann, and fromhis own exhibitions.With the found ingof thePan-Presse in I909 (until 192 I), he took thedecisive step into thehigh-class bibliophile market, yetwas never doctrinaire or esoteric, giving space to thehuge tal ents of Slevogt, Corinth, Barlach, and Beckmann as graphic artists. Itwas also in I909 thathe published his firsttitles inolder German literature (Lenz, Biuchner) and by the new generation (Wedekind). Cassirer was subsequently an important support for,say, Heinrich Mann or Toller, but itcould be said thathe effectively set up Kokoschka, Rene Schickele, and Else Lasker-Schiuler in their literarycareers. Business sensewent hand inhand with generosity (he bought a house for theyoung Ernst Bloch and paid him a retainer). There were forays into small magazines both during and after the FirstWorld War (Die weiflenBldtter isone) as well as intomusic publishing. The orations atCassirer's funeral in 1926 were delivered byMax Liebermann and Count Harry Kessler, both international in their orientation and at the same time representatives of the broad cultural interests and attainments of Berlin in the late imperial andWeimar periods. One is reminded, too, of the fragile and fragmented nature of theircommon heritage, much of itsoon toperish or to survive only inexile. Rahel E. Feilchenfeldt's introduction places Cassirer in this cultural context and highlights his versatility andmultiform talents.Other significant essays deal with Cas sirer and Liebermann and Slevogt (Sigrid Achenbach), Barlach (Sebastian Giesen), thePan-Presse (Stephanie Jacobs), the engraver Hermann Struck and Cassirer (Inka Bertz), Herwarth Walden, Karl Kraus, Loos, and Kokoschka (Friedrich Pfafflin), and Heinrich Mann and Cassirer (York-Gothart Mix). Ursel Berger and Josephine Gabler deal respectivelywith the sculptors Gaul and Kolbe, while Michael Assmann looks at Ludwig Meidner's apocalyptic writing and graphics. Markus Brandis's essay is a comprehensive account of theworkings of thePaul Cassirer Verlag as a cultural force in its time. Ursula Hudson-Wiedenmann writes on themusic published by Cassirer, while Karlheinz Weigand examines the young Ernst Bloch and Cassirer. Konrad Feilchenfeldt gives us some insight intoCassirer as a correspondent and a foretasteof a planned edition of his letters. This splendid and informative volume is highly recommended to all readers in MLR, I03. I, 2oo8 28i terested in the relationship of art and literature, in the history of publishing, in the emergence of the avant-garde, and inbibliophile presses. TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ROGER PAULIN Geheimes Deutschland: Stefan George und die Bruider Stauffenberg. By MANFRED RIEDEL. Cologne: Bohlau. 2006. 267 pp. E24.90. ISBN 978-3-4I2-07706-8. 'Geheimes Deutschland' ('Secret Germany' would hardly be an adequate translation) is a poem inStefan George's lastvolume of poetry,Das neueReich (1928). The term had been used before by members of theGeorge circle and by nineteenth...