The Art Critic Max Osborn

Isabel Fischer
Curator of Collection, Brücke-Museum

Early years: From Cologne to Berlin

Max Osborn was born into a Jewish banking family in Cologne on 10 February 1870. He grew up with three sisters and was proud of his Rhineland origins throughout his life. He retained his dialect as well as the typical cheerfulness and humour after the family moved to Berlin. He discovered his love of art and literature at an early age, whereupon he decided to study German and art history. He studied in Heidelberg, Munich and Berlin and finally completed his doctorate on the so-called devil’s literature of the 16th century - didactic satirical treatises. After completing his doctorate, he put his passion for writing into practice and began to write theatre and art reviews. In 1896, at the age of 26, he married Martha Boas, a native of Schwerin. The couple had two children, Franz (1905-1955) and Hilde (1897-1992).

Author and Art Critic

Max Osborn was a versatile author and was one of the best-known art critics in the Weimar Republic. He began his journalistic career at the Berliner Nationalzeitung. From 1910 he worked for the Berlin publishing house Ullstein Verlag and wrote theatre and art criticis first for the BZ am Mittag and from 1914 to 1933 for the Vossische Zeitung. He led an eventful life in Berlin’s cultural circles: ‘They [Max and Martha Osborn] went out a lot, basically starting the day after dinner, attending theatre premieres, art exhibitions, cultural events, which grandfather then wrote about in the reviews at night’, recalls granddaughter Ruth Weyl. 1 In addition to the newspaper articles, Osborn also published more than 80 books, including monographs on artists such as Max Pechstein and Irma Stern, art-historical overview volumes such as Die Kunst des Rokkoko (The Art of Rococo), as well as volumes on Berlin’s city history and a Rundgang in Bildern durch das alte und neue Berlin (Tour in pictures through old and new Berlin).

Involvement in Berlin’s Cultural Life

Osborn was involved in Berlin’s cultural life in a variety of ways and was a member of a number of important committees and associations, such as the acquisition commission of the National Gallery and the art commission of the city of Berlin. He supported the Verein Berliner Künstlerinnen (Association of Berlin Women Artists) as a member, as well as the exhibition committee of the Berlin Secession. In 1929, he was also a co-founder of the Jewish Museum Association, which was responsible for the opening of the first Jewish Museum in Berlin in January 1933. In his profession as an art critic, he was also appointed president of the Association of German Art Critics.

In Artistic Circles

Osborn was in close contact with many contemporary artists, including Max Liebermann and Max Pechstein. He met the Brücke artist in 1910 and later recalled: ‘But Max Pechstein’s first paintings immediately sparked something in me’. 2Writers and theatre people were also among Osborn’s confidants. Both the author Thomas Mann and the theatre director Max Reinhardt were regular guests at Osborn’s home, e.g. at the monthly Monday receptions.
In his Schöneberg flat, Osborn not only housed a huge library, but also several works of art by artists he admired, including Max Slevogt, Max Liebermann, Max Pechstein, Emil Orlik and Eugen Spiro. He also owned a collection of autographs, written documents by important contemporaries such as Adolph von Menzel and Christian Morgenstern.

Life in the Nazi Period

Osborn’s life changed abruptly when the National Socialists came to power. As early as spring 1933, he lost his job at Ullstein Verlag and had to give up his flat. Due to financial hardship, he was forced to have large parts of his art collection and library auctioned off at the Berlin auction house Max Perl.
Nevertheless, he continued to support culture, which was so important to him, for example by playing a key role in the founding of the Kulturbund deutscher Juden (later Jüdischer Kulturbund), the cultural association of German Jews, in Berlin and actively shaped its programme of events. He gave lectures, for example on Max Liebermann, and was involved in the organisation of various exhibitions until 1937. During this time, he also wrote reviews for the Jüdische Rundschau. In 1934/35, Osborn also travelled to Palestine to give lectures, but then returned to Berlin, although he had already been thinking about a possible professional future in the cultural life of Tel Aviv in 1933.

In Exile in New York

As the National Socialist repression against the Jewish population intensified, Max and Martha Osborn decided to leave Germany. In November 1938, they emigrated to New York via France and Portugal with the help of Thomas Mann. Before emigrating, they had stored all their possessions in a Berlin shipping company. These were confiscated by the National Socialists and auctioned off in 1942, which meant it was lost to the Osborns.
Even in exile, Max Osborn continued to devote himself to his passion for writing and wrote articles for the Jewish-German exile newspaper Aufbau and the Baseler Nationalzeitung. In 1945, a New York exile publishing house published his autobiographical book Der bunte Spiegel. Erinnerungen aus dem Kunst- Kultur- und Geistesleben der Jahre 1890 bis 1933. A year later, on 24 September 1946, the critic died after a fullfilled working day:: “He had retained his creative energy, enthusiasm for work and intellectual freshness right up to the last hours of his life.” 3

• 1
  Ruth Weyl, "Einige Reminiszenzen an meinen Großvater Max Osborn", in: Max Osborn. Der bunte Spiegel. Erinnerungen aus dem Kunst-, Kultur und Geistesleben der Jahre 1890 bis 1933, ed. by Thomas B. Schuhmann, Edition Memoria, Hüth 2013, p. 253.
• 2
  Max Osborn, Max Pechstein, Propyläen-Verlag Berlin, 1922, p. 13
• 3
  Martha Osborn on the death of her husband Max Osborn, quoted from E.G. Lowenthal:, „Er schöpfte aus dem Vollen. Gedenkblatt zum 100. Geburtstag von Dr. Max Osborn", In: Allgemeine Jüdische Wochenzeitung, 13 February 1970.