DOI article:
Vybíral, Jindřich: Alfred Woltmann and the History of Contemporary Art
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73804#0016
15
volume of Geschichte der Malerei, the series that he edited
in collaboration with Karl Woermann.12 Yet the eight hun-
dred pages of Woltmann's text, unfortunately, remained
only a fragment, since the author, suffering from severe
respiratory illness, died in February 1880.13
'PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
IN THE HIGH STYLE'
Woltmann was not one of those art historians who fall
short of breath in the sharp air of the present and, as a re-
sult, prefer to retreat to the past as to a peaceful island,
there to devote themselves to the undisturbed exalta-
tion of the beauty gained in the past,' as this category of
academic historians was described by Wilhelm Lubke.14
Even during his early years as a Privatdozent at the uni-
versity in Berlin, he organised two cycles of popular lec-
tures on the art of the immediate present. In February and
March 1864, the topic was the architecture of Berlin, and
two years later he prepared six talks on contemporary art.
Subsequently, in Strasburg he made German and French
art of the 19th c. the topic of one of his university courses.15
At the same time, he published in German newspapers
and magazines, essentially on an ongoing basis, reviews
and notifications from exhibitions and commentaries on
current events in the artistic scene.
His preferred artists were the Nazarene painters and
their predecessors, primarily Asmus Jacob Carstens,
Friedrich Overbeck, Peter Cornelius, and Carl Rahl. For
discussing their work, Woltmann deployed a Winckel-
mann-influenced terminology, such as art of a 'high' or
'strict' style. The excellent formal qualities of the Naza-
renes embodied for him not the 'old Germanic style ad-
mired by the Romantics, but instead a respect for the
normative ideal of beauty in the spirit of the classical
12 Geschichte der Malerei, vol. 1: Die Malerei des Alterthums. Die Ma-
lerei des Mittelaters, ed. A. Woltmann, Leipzig 1879; Geschich-
te der Malerei, vol. 2: Die Malerei der Renaissance, eds A. Wolt-
mann, K. Woermann, Leipzig 1882.
13 B. Meyer, 'Alfred Woltmann', Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst,
15, 1880, pp. 193-200, 242-250 and 301-315; M. Thausing,
'Alfred Woltmann, Repertorium fur Kunstwissenschaft, 3, 1880,
pp. 357-360; A. Stern, 'Woltmann, Alfred', in Allgemeine Deut-
sche Biographie, vol. 44, Leipzig 1898, pp. 185-188.
14 W. Lubke, 'Die heutige Kunst und die Kunstwissenschaft', Zeit-
schrift fur bildende Kunst, 1, 1866, pp. 3-13, here p. 3 (denen in
der scharfen Luft der Gegenwart der Athem ausgeht, und die sich
deshalb lieber in die Vergangenheit wie auf ein friedliches Eiland
zuruckziehen, um dort in muheloser Anschauung des einmal ge-
sicherten Besitzes von Schonheit zu schwelgen).
15 'Vermischte Kunstnachrichten, Kunstchronik. Wochenschrift fur
Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, 1, 1866, p. 16; 'Vorlesungen aus der
Kunstgeschichte der Gegenwart', National-Zeitung, 31. 3. 1866,
Beiblatt, p. 3; Verzeichnis der Vorlesungen an der Kaiser- Wil-
helms- Universitat, Strasburg 1879, p. 20.
1. Peter Cornelius School (Jakob Gótzenberger), Madonna and Child
with Parrot, 1823 (engraving by Th. Langer). Phot, after: Zeitschrift
fur bildende Kunst 3, 1868
tradition. It was classicism that, in his conviction, aided
first German literature and then German art in extricating
itself from the crisis of the latter part of the 18th c. Wolt-
mann did not call for a literal imitation of antiquity, but
instead for the creative apprehension of its spirit, which
would allow artists to reach 'toward a new, autonomous
grasp of nature'.16 The classical canon, in his view, implied
a sense for calm, harmony, and above all the balanced rela-
tion between the semantic and formal aspects. Antiquity,
in short, as its founding principle announced the congru-
ence of content and form'.17 From this position, Woltmann
disapproved, for instance, of the mixing of symbolic or
allegorical motifs with real ones, yet refused even more
forcefully, in the spirit of Lessing's aesthetics, literalness
in pictorial compositions. Though the classical erudition
of this era relied primarily on texts, he held that the fine
arts should speak in their own, non-derivative language.
'Not communication, but depiction is the essence of the
picture, he declared, stressing the visual character of the
16 A. Woltmann, 'Carstens', in idem, Aus vier Jahrhunderten,
pp. 169-190, here p. 182 (as in note 10) (zu einer neuen, selbstan-
digen Auffassung der Natur gelangte).
17 Idem, 'Das Rauch-Museum', National-Zeitung, 29. 3. 1866, pp. 1-3,
here p. 2 (verkundet als Grundprincip Ubereinstimmung von In-
halt und Form).
volume of Geschichte der Malerei, the series that he edited
in collaboration with Karl Woermann.12 Yet the eight hun-
dred pages of Woltmann's text, unfortunately, remained
only a fragment, since the author, suffering from severe
respiratory illness, died in February 1880.13
'PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
IN THE HIGH STYLE'
Woltmann was not one of those art historians who fall
short of breath in the sharp air of the present and, as a re-
sult, prefer to retreat to the past as to a peaceful island,
there to devote themselves to the undisturbed exalta-
tion of the beauty gained in the past,' as this category of
academic historians was described by Wilhelm Lubke.14
Even during his early years as a Privatdozent at the uni-
versity in Berlin, he organised two cycles of popular lec-
tures on the art of the immediate present. In February and
March 1864, the topic was the architecture of Berlin, and
two years later he prepared six talks on contemporary art.
Subsequently, in Strasburg he made German and French
art of the 19th c. the topic of one of his university courses.15
At the same time, he published in German newspapers
and magazines, essentially on an ongoing basis, reviews
and notifications from exhibitions and commentaries on
current events in the artistic scene.
His preferred artists were the Nazarene painters and
their predecessors, primarily Asmus Jacob Carstens,
Friedrich Overbeck, Peter Cornelius, and Carl Rahl. For
discussing their work, Woltmann deployed a Winckel-
mann-influenced terminology, such as art of a 'high' or
'strict' style. The excellent formal qualities of the Naza-
renes embodied for him not the 'old Germanic style ad-
mired by the Romantics, but instead a respect for the
normative ideal of beauty in the spirit of the classical
12 Geschichte der Malerei, vol. 1: Die Malerei des Alterthums. Die Ma-
lerei des Mittelaters, ed. A. Woltmann, Leipzig 1879; Geschich-
te der Malerei, vol. 2: Die Malerei der Renaissance, eds A. Wolt-
mann, K. Woermann, Leipzig 1882.
13 B. Meyer, 'Alfred Woltmann', Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst,
15, 1880, pp. 193-200, 242-250 and 301-315; M. Thausing,
'Alfred Woltmann, Repertorium fur Kunstwissenschaft, 3, 1880,
pp. 357-360; A. Stern, 'Woltmann, Alfred', in Allgemeine Deut-
sche Biographie, vol. 44, Leipzig 1898, pp. 185-188.
14 W. Lubke, 'Die heutige Kunst und die Kunstwissenschaft', Zeit-
schrift fur bildende Kunst, 1, 1866, pp. 3-13, here p. 3 (denen in
der scharfen Luft der Gegenwart der Athem ausgeht, und die sich
deshalb lieber in die Vergangenheit wie auf ein friedliches Eiland
zuruckziehen, um dort in muheloser Anschauung des einmal ge-
sicherten Besitzes von Schonheit zu schwelgen).
15 'Vermischte Kunstnachrichten, Kunstchronik. Wochenschrift fur
Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, 1, 1866, p. 16; 'Vorlesungen aus der
Kunstgeschichte der Gegenwart', National-Zeitung, 31. 3. 1866,
Beiblatt, p. 3; Verzeichnis der Vorlesungen an der Kaiser- Wil-
helms- Universitat, Strasburg 1879, p. 20.
1. Peter Cornelius School (Jakob Gótzenberger), Madonna and Child
with Parrot, 1823 (engraving by Th. Langer). Phot, after: Zeitschrift
fur bildende Kunst 3, 1868
tradition. It was classicism that, in his conviction, aided
first German literature and then German art in extricating
itself from the crisis of the latter part of the 18th c. Wolt-
mann did not call for a literal imitation of antiquity, but
instead for the creative apprehension of its spirit, which
would allow artists to reach 'toward a new, autonomous
grasp of nature'.16 The classical canon, in his view, implied
a sense for calm, harmony, and above all the balanced rela-
tion between the semantic and formal aspects. Antiquity,
in short, as its founding principle announced the congru-
ence of content and form'.17 From this position, Woltmann
disapproved, for instance, of the mixing of symbolic or
allegorical motifs with real ones, yet refused even more
forcefully, in the spirit of Lessing's aesthetics, literalness
in pictorial compositions. Though the classical erudition
of this era relied primarily on texts, he held that the fine
arts should speak in their own, non-derivative language.
'Not communication, but depiction is the essence of the
picture, he declared, stressing the visual character of the
16 A. Woltmann, 'Carstens', in idem, Aus vier Jahrhunderten,
pp. 169-190, here p. 182 (as in note 10) (zu einer neuen, selbstan-
digen Auffassung der Natur gelangte).
17 Idem, 'Das Rauch-Museum', National-Zeitung, 29. 3. 1866, pp. 1-3,
here p. 2 (verkundet als Grundprincip Ubereinstimmung von In-
halt und Form).