In the matter of sculpture, the achievement in which the Emperor takes most pride is undoubtedly the famous Siegesallee in Berlin. It consists of a number of monumental, heroic figures taken from the history of his house. The avenue, the general scheme, and the arrangement of many of the figures were planned by him, and the figures were chosen in consultation with his historiographer. The style is supposedly classic; there are many incidental animal figures, and a sphinx and the sibyl help to represent Bismarck. The attempt to make heroic and classic certain of the fairly mediocre representatives of his line, like Albrecht, Otto and John, Joachim, Frederick, and George William, seems to have been too difficult a task even for that Berlin school of sculpture, which the Emperor feels would bear comparison with that of the Renaissance. Notwithstanding his own efforts to awaken art “from the cold sleep of unculture,” it is perhaps significant that powerful, independent personalities, Michelangelos in sculpture and Bismarcks in politics, do not seem to thrive under the Emperor’s protection.
This eighteenth day of December has a certain significance in the history of our art here in Berlin, from the fact that that revered protector of the Muses, my late father, and my mother, who was so gifted in the arts, dedicated on that day, fifteen years ago, the Anthropological Museum. This was in a way the last great closing act which my father accomplished in this direction, and I look upon it as a special piece of good fortune that it is on precisely this day of the year that the works for the Siegesallee could be completed.
I seize with joy the opportunity to express to you all, first, my congratulations and, secondly, my thanks for the way and manner in which you have helped me to carry out my original plan. The accomplishment of the programme for the Siegesallee has required a number of years, and it was the able historiographer of my house, Professor Doctor Koser, who put me in a position to assign to the gentlemen the tasks which it was possible for them to carry out.
Once we had found the historical basis, it was possible to go ahead; and after the choice of the princes was decided upon, then the most competent men in the way of historical research were found to help the gentlemen in their work. In this way the groups were conceived, and, conditioned to a certain degree by history, they gradually took form.
After this part of the work was done, then, naturally, came the hardest question of all: Would it be possible, as I hoped, to find enough artists in Berlin who would be in a position to give themselves entirely to the execution of this programme?
I had in mind when I approached the solution of this problem, if I were successful, to show to the world what I considered to be the most advantageous method of solving an artistic question of this character. The best way to go about it, I believe, consists not in the appointment of commissions, not in the establishment of all possible kinds of prize contests and competitions, but in following the old established method which they used in classical times and also later in the Middle Ages. In this way, the direct intercourse between the employer and the artist offers a security for the favorable shaping of the work and for the successful accomplishment of the task.
I am especially indebted in this particular to Professor Rheinhold Begas in that, when I went to him with these thoughts, he made it clear to me without further ceremony that there was absolutely no doubt but that there were enough artists of all kinds in Berlin to carry out such an idea without difficulty. With his help and on the basis of friendships formed in the circle of sculptors here through visits to exhibitions and studios I did, indeed, succeed in getting together a staff with which to proceed in carrying out this task—a staff the greater part of which I see gathered about me here to-day.
I believe that you will not deny that I have made the execution of the programme developed by me as easy as possible for you. I have placed the task before you and limited it in a general way, but for the rest I have given you absolute freedom, not only freedom in the combination and composition but precisely that freedom to put into it a certain amount of yourselves—a thing that every artist must do in order to put his own stamp upon his work; for every work of art contains within it a kernel of the artist’s own character. I believe that this experiment, if I may call it so, through which the Siegesallee was completed, dare be looked upon as a success.