The German Emperor as Shown in His Public Utterances

by German Emperor William II

Although interviews have been necessary between me and the artists who were carrying out the work in order to settle every doubt and to answer every question, no difficulties of a more serious nature have shown themselves. I believe, therefore, that from this point of view we can look back upon the Siegesallee with general satisfaction. You have individually solved your problems as you saw fit, and I, on my side, have the feeling that I have allowed you the fullest measure of freedom and time—a thing I hold to be necessary for the artist. I have never gone into details and have contented myself with giving merely the direction, the impulse.

But it fills me with pride and joy to-day when I think that Berlin stands before the whole world with a body of artists who are capable of carrying out such a magnificent work. It proves that the Berlin school of sculpture stands at a height such as could hardly have been surpassed even in the time of the Renaissance. And I think every one of you will agree, without jealousy, that the effective example of Rheinhold Begas and his conception, based upon his knowledge of the antique, has been a guide to many of you in the working out of this great task.

Here, also, we could draw a parallel between the great achievements in the art of the Middle Ages and of the Italians; since in that time, also, the sovereign and art-loving prince who offered the commissions to the artists at the same time found the masters, about whom a crowd of young disciples gathered, so that a certain school was in this way developed which was able to accomplish remarkable things.

Now, gentlemen, the Pergamon Museum has also been opened on this same day, in Berlin. I regard that, too, as a very important portion of our art history and as a good omen and a happy coincidence. A more magnificent collection cannot be imagined than the abundance of beauty which is displayed in these rooms before the eyes of the astonished observer.

But how does art stand in the world to-day? It takes its examples and creates out of the great sources of Mother Nature; and Nature, in spite of her great, apparently boundless, limitless freedom, acts according to everlasting laws which the Creator has set for Himself and which can never be infringed upon or overstepped without endangering the development of the world.

It is the same in art. And in looking upon the magnificent remains from the old classic period we experience the same feeling. Here, too, an eternal, unchanging law rules; the law of beauty and harmony—of æsthetics. This law was expressed by the ancients in so surprising and powerful a manner and in so complete a form that we, for all our modern perceptions and our power of accomplishment, are proud if it can be said of some very especially good piece of work: “That is almost as good as if it had been done 1900 years ago.”

“Almost!” Under this impression I shall ask you to take this injunction to heart. Sculpture has for the most part remained free from the so-called modern tendencies and influences; it still stands high and sublime. Keep it so; do not let yourselves be led astray by the judgment of men and by all sorts of windy doctrines to give up these great principles upon which it is based.

An art which oversteps the laws and boundaries which I have indicated is no longer art; it is factory work, it is trade; and that no art dare become. Through the much-misused word “freedom” and under her flag one often falls into indefiniteness, boundlessness, conceit. However, he who cuts loose from the law of beauty and from the feeling for æsthetics and harmony which, whether he can express it or not, every man feels in his heart; he who thinks the chief thing is to turn his thoughts in a certain direction toward a definite solution of more technical problems, sins against the very sources of his art.

Furthermore, art must help to educate the people; it must also give the lower classes, after their cramping exertions, the opportunity to right themselves again through ideals. To us, the German people, great ideals are a lasting possession, while with other peoples they have been more or less lost. It is now the German people whose special province it is to protect these great ideas, to foster them, to set them forth; and to these ideas belongs the duty of giving to those classes who tire themselves out through labor the opportunity to raise themselves through beautiful things and to work themselves out of and above their ordinary circles of thought.

If, however, art, as often happens nowadays, does nothing more than to make misery even more hideous than it already is, then it sins against the German people. The fostering of the ideal is the greatest work of culture; and if we wish to be and to remain a pattern in this for other peoples, then we must all work together; and if culture is to accomplish its full task, then it must penetrate through to the very lowest strata of the people. That it can only do if art lends a hand, if it raises up instead of drawing down into the gutter.