SOURCE: "The Letters of Ernst Barlach," in Art Journal, Vol. XXIX, No. 2, Winter, 1969/70, pp. 200-01.

In the following review of The Letters of Ernst Barlach, Werner calls the letters invaluable because of the informal, honest picture they present of Barlach.

At one point in the last century, when the artist's alienation from society had reached its peak and the gap between the creative man and his potential public seemed unbridgeable, the ancient notion of the artist as a rather boorish, uncouth creature was revived. To this very day, artists are often thought of as individuals bound to seem fools as soon as they utter a word, let alone issue written statements. The fallacious idea that "artists say the silliest things" has, of course, been encouraged by members of the brotherhood who knowingly made absurd pronunciamentos to demonstrate their disdain for any over-intellectual approach to art.

The German sculptor...