Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler - World War I and World War II

World War I and World War II

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 not only ruptured the Cubist experiments in art but resulted in Kahnweiler, of German origin, being considered by the French as an alien; and being forced to live in exile in Switzerland. Many German nationals living in France had their possessions sequestered by the French state, and as a result, Kahnweiler's collection was confiscated in 1914 and sold by the government in a series of auctions at the Hôtel Drouot between 1921 and 1923.

During the years of exile (until 1920) he studied and wrote on his experiences. He wrote works such as the Der Weg Zum Kubismus and Confessions esthétiques. Writing becoming a passion he continued over his lifetime, creating hundreds of books and major articles. The second period of enforced writing was the internal exile which occurred during World War II where as a Jew, the Nazis forced him to flee Paris. He remained in France in hiding; where as he put it under the clouds of the gas chambers he wrote the seminal work on Juan Gris.

Read more about this topic:  Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

Famous quotes containing the words world war i, world and/or war:

    One ... aspect of the case for World War II is that while it was still a shooting affair it taught us survivors a great deal about daily living which is valuable to us now that it is, ethically at least, a question of cold weapons and hot words.
    M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)

    Oh, what a might is this whose single frown
    Doth shake the world as it would shake it down?
    Which all from nothing fet, from nothing all;
    Hath all on nothing set, lets nothing fall.
    Gave all to nothing man indeed, whereby
    Through nothing man all might Him glorify.
    Edward Taylor (1645–1729)

    War talk by men who have been in a war is always interesting; whereas moon talk by a poet who has not been in the moon is likely to be dull.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)