Hitler's Table Talk

602 VENICE BIENNIAL EXHIBITION
from the armed forces of technicians required for the task are
therefore of primary and equal importance.
The more submarines we have in service, the larger will be
our requirements for maintenance and repairs; and this must
also be borne in mind when deciding the numbers of technicians
to be released.
274 agth July 1942, at dinner
The sculptor Kreis—German art and the Jews—Twelve
hundred masterpieces at Munich—The artist's dilemma.
The monument erected at Laboe to the memory of the submarine
service is, with its distorted bows, a singularly pernicious
piece of art. I am only thankful, therefore, that we now
have in Professor Kreis an artist in stone capable of the most
magnificent designs for all future war memorials.
Bormann then showed the Fuehrer some photos of the pictures exhibited
at the biennial exhibition in Venice. The Fuehrer commented:
To my mind the complete lack of technique in these incredible
daubs represents the ultimate prostitution of art.
Public reception, according to reports I have received, throws
a significant light on the value of this exhibition; when they
saw the pictures, the public, apparently, simply burst out
laughing. Such a thing could not happen at an exhibition in
the House of German Art in Munich.
The twelve hundred works accepted for the Munich exhibition,
out of some ten or twelve thousand submitted, were,
without exception, first-class works of art. The meticulousness
of the selection was assured, because it was not carried out by
artists themselves, but by men of the calibre of Professor
Hoffmann and Director Kolb. Artists as selectors are somewhat
prone to select for exhibition a certain number of mediocre
works, which then serve as an excellent foil for their own
pictures.
The value of the Munich exhibition is twofold. It ensures
that the purchaser of any picture can safely hang it in his
home with pride, and it contributes greatly to the education of
the artist.