Page 54 - Studio International - February 1972

without reference to those they most should stand its ground against the and unassuming as possible, while as public bodies; but the teaching
concern. Thus a draft bill, vesting authoritarianism of the cultural sculptors are wise to draw attention staff are universally expected to
artists with a 5 per cent share in the bureaucrats—but this art public just to the striking effect of the building suffer a massive loss of influence as a
resale price of their works, was doesn't exist. by using monumental proportions. result of the loss of autonomy. When
recently submitted for the There is no general public In the last ten years a new breed of a 'department of fine arts' has to
Bundestag's consideration without prepared to take up cudgels for art, artists has appeared which works on fight for its funds against the natural
previous consultation with artists, either. Public opinion blithely these assumptions : the 'building and social sciences, it is always going
dealers and museum officials. continues to believe the old myth that barons' (Bau-Potentate). Those few to get the worst of the deal. Society,
Consternation ensued, as such a the artist is the freest creature on artists who, in co-operation with as is always said on these occasions,
regulation (coming close to God's earth. The Bundesverband der architects, have tried to have their needs teachers and scientists more
Siegelaub's and Projansky's deutschen Industrie (Confederation of artistic concerns taken into account urgently than artists.
proposals) would, in the absence of German Industry) — a powerful during construction have generally In a state whose citizens bow
international agreement, give social force in Germany—gives four been repulsed by the public works down before the golden calf of
foreign art an unfair competitive bursaries a year for successful artists pundits with the statement that this economics, the arts inevitably exist
advantage, and would also give the to go to the Villa Romana in was not economic—and not required in the shadows. The other side of the
coup de grace to the financially shaky Florence, and is not ashamed of by the law anyway. same coin is the hideous aridity and
Kunstvereine and 'amateur' galleries. putting up (at the moment) only Local government does not, of brutalization that have overtaken the
As a result leading museum DMr000 a month, inclusive of course, argue quite so quality of collective life in the
directors, the Deutscher accommodation, transport costs and straightforwardly from economic Federal Republic. The prestige
Künstlerbund and the Verein return ticket. considerations when it has to justify buildings put up by the holders of
progressiver deutscher Kunsthändler Apart from the artists it is the to the public the cuts that have been economic power have turned the city
(Association of Progressive German Kunstvereine who are most affected made over the last year in the centres into deserts; the citizens'
Art Dealers, the body responsible for by this public nonchalance : with subsidies given to the arts. political consciousness is limited to
the Cologne Kunstmarkt) found notable exceptions, such as the The general explanation given the panic reaction that sets in
themselves in a solid, protesting Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover, is 'social priorities' : traffic whenever the growth rate of the
phalanx—which makes one wonder they are almost all facing financial problems, pollution, etc. But the gross national product is less than
why this community of interest only ruin. The foundation dates of the social conscience is easily appeased expected; and in the universities and
came to light when disaster was forty or so Kunstvereine—after the in cases where it does not happen to other institutions of higher education
already imminent. unsuccessful revolution of 1848 and fit in with the authorities' economic a militant generation is growing up
The devastating consequences of after the two World Wars—show that calculations. When Christo packages which denounces its fathers as
the particularism of clubs, it is only when the German middle the castle ruins at Monschau, or when imbecile consumers (Konsumidioten)
associations and groups are most class is politically bankrupt that it Manfred de la Motte puts on 'street and demands a radical overthrow of
obvious in the allocation of State remembers about art. Today the art' in Hanover, or when artists set the existing social structure. In no
subsidies. In West Germany arts middle class has reconsolidated its up a temporary 'art zone' in the other country has the idea of
policy is in the hands of the Lander; political and economic power, and so Munich city centre, the city treasurer revolutionary political art so many
that is to say, the governments of the the furtherance of art has come to a is quick to draw on the publicity adherents among students as it has
eleven states which make up the standstill. budget for subsidies which he denies in West Germany; because there is
Federal Republic are left to look The example of the Kunstvereine to the arts in general. For artists who no other country in which the
after all cultural affairs which do not makes it clear that the lack of a public perform in the middle of towns, like insignificance of art in terms of
(like the resale clause) impinge upon for art cannot simply be attributed to the mountebanks of earlier times, society is so blatantly obvious.
financial or economic policy— the political shortcomings of the serve to attract people from far and Nevertheless, the politicization of art
including both art education and the parties involved: that would be to wide; and then the tills of the catering is no adequate answer to the present
welfare of the museums. The underestimate latent social forces. industry ring out, and the hotel situation; the political problem of
treatment which the fine arts receive The inability of the art world to trade sleeps easy. art can be solved only through
is therefore as varied as the recognize its community of interest, It is in the field of education that politics, not through art.
ideological complexions of the the aimlessness of state arts policies, the economic criterion most In 1970, on the occasion of an
Lander parliaments. In Nordrhein- the anachronistic machinery for the shamelessly takes precedence over exhibition of the Deutsche
Westfalen, which includes Cologne advancement of art in society—all the concerns of art. This is so even Künstlerbund in Bonn, Chancellor
and Düsseldorf, there is a social- these are only outward symptoms. in spite of the undoubted good will of Brandt made the lapidary assertion
liberal government in power which The real dilemma lies deeper. It the powers that be. Last November, that a policy which involves taking
is well-disposed towards modern shows most clearly where arts policy when the Deutsche Künstlerbund the risks inherent in change finds a
art; and it is no coincidence that is at first sight at its best : in the mounted a public debate at the natural partner in the artists, who
Dr Werner Schmalenbach, who is awarding of commissions for public Akademie der Künste in Berlin on the constantly call things in question.
building up the Kunstsammlung buildings, in the handling of public theme of 'Art and Parliaments', all This analogy, simplistic as it may
Nordrhein-Westfalen, has the highest subsidies and in higher art education. the politicians emphasized how sound, goes right to the heart of the
appropriation for the purchase of The law which earmarks 2 per important art was in the educational problem of art and politics. As long
modern art of any museum official in cent of the construction cost of a development of the human as politics in the Federal Republic
Germany. But where ideologies are public building for its artistic individual. But two weeks before, were carried on with the aid of
more doctrinaire the position of the embellishment is regarded from the same rostrum, the Berlin slogans such as 'Safe is Sure' and
fine arts is less healthy. In Hesse throughout the world as a shining art teachers had been protesting `Stability and Security', the public
(state capital, Wiesbaden), where a example of a meaningful arts policy against the decision to reduce the mood was not propitious for a source
distinctly left-wing Social —but not in Germany. It has become time allotted to art in schools from of ferment, a force for change, such
Democratic administration calls the clear that the effect of this law is in four hours a week to two. And the as art is. A political line which has
tune, the education of the masses is fact not so much the advancement of tendency which so far has shown given nationalist ideology its
the touchstone of cultural policy, and art as the corruption of artists. In the itself in the schools only in embryo marching orders, and is now setting
museums, stigmatized as elitist, are first place the artistic aspect is has already become a major threat out to break up the ossified structures
kept correspondingly short of money. ignored until the shell of the building in higher education. The ruling of economic thought from within,
On the other hand in Bavaria, with is already complete; then, as the law Social Democrats consider that the opens up new perspectives for art,
Franz Josef Strauss's conservatives prescribes, several artists are invited Kunsthochschulen, which provide art just as it does for society. Of course
at the helm, middle-class standards to submit their designs in a education at degree level, should lose the staying power of reactionary
apply. The theatre is undisputed competition. The outcome is largely their institutional autonomy and be forces must not be underestimated;
leader of the field, but, nonetheless, prejudged as a result of the incorporated into integrated any political programme which sets
one third of what it gets construction work already done, for Gesamthochschulen as 'departments of out to alter German society is faced
(DM13,000,000), also goes to the no architect will accept a design fine arts' (a parallel to the English with the overwhelming task of first
museums : a proud position for art to which is too much at variance with plan to merge the colleges of art with getting it to show some sign of life.
be in, did not closer examination his aesthetic conception of the the polytechnics). The attempt is For the absence of a public response
reveal that only a tenth of that goes building. An artist who doesn't want made, in official quarters, to sugar to the arts has its ultimate cause in the
to benefit present-day art. In this, as to lose his chance of some big money the pill by arguing that the fact that there exists in the Federal
in many other matters, the art is therefore well advised to submit a organizational subordination of the Republic both a dauntingly efficient
public, of artists and art supporters, pleasing bit of decoration, as elegant art schools will enhance their status bureaucracy and an immense
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