Page 36 - Studio International - July 1966

I looked for Lissitzky's work again, in 1957 and 1958, showed the Russian soldiers the small bronze animals
but no one at the Artists' Union had heard of him. It that had survived the bombing. They looked at them
took me a long time to find that whatever had remained with regret.
in his widow's hands had been given to the Tretyakov `But why do you sculpt so small?' they asked, and raising
Gallery, where it was in semi-retirement in the basement, skywards arms covered from hand to shoulder with
only to be brought out when asked for. wristwatches: 'Gross, Frau, gross' Russians under Stalin
must believe in giant sculpture.
After the war I went to Germany and searched for what I `But they left me in peace after that,' the sculptress said,
thought might be art created and hidden away under `and even tried to wrest some kind of studio for me from
Hitler. I found very little: two women painters in the ruins.'
Stuttgart, Renee Sintenis in Berlin. Lily Hildebrand, I found eventually that I had some good collector quali-
wife of the art historian, was not imprisoned, but she was ties. Many gallery owners respond to one's enthusiasm
not allowed to paint. and are willing to let one live with something for a while
`One day,' she told me, 'I simply could not stand it any to see if a first enthusiasm wears : one may be over-
more. I could not stand being boxed up in my house, whelmed by a first impression which does not last.
never allowed to paint. I rushed out into the street and `Could I part with it?' became my rule of thumb. Some-
set up my easel and painted. Many people stopped and times, too, one may stop liking some art one has bought:
looked, but do you know, not one turned me in. Not one !' one changes, or the effect is different. I don't think such
As for Renee Sintenis, I found her in Berlin without `mistakes' matter: one learns from them as maybe one
studio or material; her studio had been bombed, there learns something about oneself. The main lesson I
was no bronze to be had, and she had been baking bread learned in a quarter of a century's collecting comes to a
for the Russians. (All the Berlin women were made to truism: I trusted my own taste.
clear rubble or bake bread.) Renee Sintenis was not A collector does learn from his collecting. The questions
indignant, but rather amused. She had found four of her people ask me usually come out the same, especially
little animal sculptures in some hidden corner. I bought today when the values of good art have soared. 'How did
them for cigarettes—one carton if I remember. She you know?' they marvel. 'How could you have had such
thought of it as wealth untold in that post-war Berlin. foresight?' they insinuate. 'What prompted you to buy
She told me, wryly, about her adventures. When some what you did ?' And —perhaps most important— how could
Russian soldiers first found her, they were going to put they emulate me? Even those who still secretly mock at
her to street-cleaning until they discovered she was an my 'jello cubes' or 'red spots' would like to pry open the
artist. Their contempt—for a German—turned to admira- key to such 'shrewdness'.
tion : Russians have been taught to respect art and You try to keep an open mind, you try to go along with
artists—even when they condemn their style. Sintenis the times. And how they are changing! You want to

Marc Chagall César
Study for 'Homage to Apollinaire' 1911-12 Fish head 1956
Gouache 7+x 62 in. Iron 7 1/2 x 22 1/2 x 6 in.