Harry Clemens Ulrich
Graf von Kessler (23 May 1868 – 30 November 1937) was an Anglo-German
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York ...
, diplomat, writer, and patron of modern art. English translations of his diaries "Journey to the Abyss" (2011) and "Berlin in Lights" (1971) reveal anecdotes and details of artistic, theatrical, and political life in Europe, mostly in Germany, from the late 19th century through the collapse of Germany at the end of World War I until his death in Lyon in 1937.
Family
Harry Kessler's parents were the
Hamburg banker Adolf Wilhelm Graf von Kessler (24 November 1838 – 22 January 1895) and Alice Harriet Blosse-Lynch (born 17 July 1844 in Bombay; died 19 September 1919 in Normandy), the daughter of
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establish ...
Henry Blosse Lynch, C.B., of Partry House,
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Counci ...
. Kessler's parents married in Paris on 10 August 1867; Kessler was born, also in Paris, in 1868. Kessler's younger sister was born in 1877, and was named Wilhelmina after
Kaiser Wilhelm I
William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...
, who became the child's godfather. After marriage, her name would become Wilma de Brion.
There were many rumours about a supposed affair between
Kaiser Wilhelm I
William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...
and Countess Alice Kessler. The swift rise of the Kessler family led to a legend that either Harry or his sister were the illegitimate offspring of the Emperor and Countess Alice Kessler, but Harry was born two years before his mother met the Emperor, and the Emperor was eighty years old when his sister Wilhelmina was born.
Adolf Wilhelm Kessler was ennobled in 1879 and again in 1881, Harry inheriting the titles on his father's death.
Life and work
Kessler grew up in France, England and Germany. Kessler was educated first in Paris and then, from 1880, in
St. George's School, Ascot
St George's School, Ascot is an independent boarding and day school in Ascot, Berkshire, England. It was founded as a boys' school and later became a girls' school.
History
The school was founded in 1877 as a boys' preparatory school. Among i ...
, an English boarding school. Following his father's wishes he enrolled in 1882 at the
Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
The ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums'' ( ''Academic School of the Johanneum'', short: Johanneum) is a Gymnasium (or Grammar School ) in Hamburg, Germany. It is Hamburg's oldest school and was founded in 1529 by Johannes Bugenhagen. The school's ...
in Hamburg, where he completed his ''
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen yea ...
'' (high-school education). Afterwards he joined the
3rd Garde-Ulanen regiment in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...
and earned the rank of an army officer. He studied law and art history in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr ...
and
Leipzig respectively. Kessler was familiar with many cultures, travelled widely, was active as a German diplomat, and came to be known as a man of the world and patron of the arts. He considered himself part of European society. His homosexuality, which inevitably made him a psychological outsider, undoubtedly influenced his insight and critique of
Wilhelmian culture.
After moving to Berlin in 1893, he worked on the
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
journal
PAN, which published literary work by, among others,
Richard Dehmel
Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (18 November 1863 – 8 February 1920) was a German poet and writer.
Life
A forester's son, Richard Dehmel was born in Hermsdorf near Wendisch Buchholz (now a part of Münchehofe) in the Brandenburg Province, K ...
,
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known to ...
,
Friedrich Nietzsche,
,
Julius Hart
The brothers Heinrich and Julius Hart were German writers and literary critics who collaborated closely. They were among the pioneers of naturalism in German literature.
Heinrich was born 30 December 1855, in Wesel and died 11 June 1906, in Tec ...
,
Novalis
Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure of ...
,
Paul Verlaine and
Alfred Lichtwark
Alfred Lichtwark (14 November 1852 – 13 January 1914) was a German art historian, museum curator, and art educator in Hamburg. He is one of the founders of museum education and the art education movement.
Background and career
Alfred Lic ...
. The short-lived journal also published graphic works by numerous artists including
Henry van de Velde
Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.' ...
,
Max Liebermann,
Otto Eckmann and
Ludwig von Hofmann
Ludwig von Hofmann (17 August 1861 – 23 August 1945) was a German painter, graphic artist and designer. He worked in a combination of the Art Nouveau and Symbolist styles. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1 ...
.
On 24 March 1903, Kessler assumed control of the "
Museum für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe" in
Weimar. There he worked with new exhibition concepts and the establishment of a permanent arts and crafts exhibit.
In 1904, during his work in Weimar, Kessler began to publish a group of bibliophilic books containing artistic compositions of typography and illustrations. In the beginning he cooperated with the German
Insel Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag.
In January 2010 the ...
. In 1913 he founded his own company, the Cranach Press, of which he became the director.
Around 1909, Kessler developed a concept for a comic opera together with
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and together they wrote the scenario.
Richard Strauss provided the music, and in 1911 ''
Der Rosenkavalier'' premiered in Dresden under the baton of
Ernst von Schuch
Ernst Edler von Schuch, born Ernst Gottfried Schuch (23 November 1846, Graz – 10 May 1914, Niederlößnitz/Radebeul Dresden) was an Austrian conductor who became famous through his working collaborations with Richard Strauss at the Dresden C ...
.
Around 1913, Kessler commissioned
Edward Gordon Craig, an English theatrical designer and theoretician, to make woodcut illustrations for a sumptuous edition of
Shakespeare's ''
Hamlet'' for the Cranach Press. A German translation by
Gerhart Hauptmann, with illustrations by Craig, was finally published in
Weimar in 1928. The English version, edited by
J. Dover Wilson, came out in 1930. This book, printed on fine paper, using different type-faces, with marginal notes with source quotations, and featuring Craig's woodcuts, is regarded by many as one of the finest examples of the printer's art to have been published in the 20th century. It is still sought by collectors worldwide.
Kessler's ideas of reforming culture went beyond the visual arts. He developed a reformation concept for the theatre which was supported by
Edward Gordon Craig,
Max Reinhardt and
Karl Vollmöller
Karl Gustav Vollmöller (or Vollmoeller; 7 May 1878 – 18 October 1948) was a German philologist, archaeologist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and aircraft designer. He is most famous for the elaborate religious spectacle-pantomime '' The Mira ...
. Kessler asserted that a so-called "
Mustertheater" should be established. The Belgian architect
Henry van de Velde
Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.' ...
sought to design the corresponding building. On the initiative of Kessler, many prominent writers were invited to introduce a literary modernity to Weimar, but the hegemonic opinions were considered too conservative and nationalistic, and the plans for the
Mustertheater failed.
During his Weimar period Kessler became close friends with
Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche
Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsche (10 July 1846 – 8 November 1935) was the sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the creator of the Nietzsche Archive in 1894.
Förster-Nietzsche was two years younger than her brothe ...
(1846–1935), the sister of late
Friedrich Nietzsche. At the suggestion of Kessler, she chose Weimar as domicile for the
Nietzsche Archive
The Nietzsche Archive ( German: ''Nietzsche-Archiv'') is the first organization that dedicated itself to archive and document the life and work of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, all sourced from Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, the philosophe ...
.
In 1903, Kessler launched the
Deutscher Künstlerbund and became its vice-president. The consortium supported less acknowledged artists including
Edvard Munch,
Johannes R. Becher
Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writin ...
,
and the painters of
Die Brücke. In 1906, an exhibition commotion gave reason to depose Kessler from his office. An exhibition of drawings at the
Grand Ducal Museum by Rodin and dedicated, in error, to the
Grand Duke of Sax Thuringia, was considered as a risk to the wives and daughters of Weimar. This was followed by a smear campaign that Kessler considered to be an intrigue by
Aimé Charles Vincent von Palezieux, retired Prussian General and court Marshall in Weimar, but which led to Kessler's resignation. Palezieux died less than a year later on 10 February 1907 just before receipt of a challenge to a duel from Kessler.
Later years
Kessler saw active service on the Western Front during World War I. In 1918, he returned to his estate in Weimar, recording that although the house seemed unchanged from 1913 and his old servants and pets greeted him with affection, his collections of paintings, statues, books and mementos reflected a European intellectual and cultural community which was now "dead, missing, scattered .. or become enemies".
During World War I, Kessler and
Karl Gustav Vollmoeller worked together at the
German Embassy in Bern for the cultural department of the Foreign Office. They developed activities aimed at peace plans with France and England. In November 1918, Kessler was German Ambassador to Warsaw in the newly independent Poland (
Second Polish Republic). In 1919, he wrote a "plan for a
League of Nations on the basis of an organization of organizations (World Organisation)", which contains the constitution of such an international confederation of states. The purpose of this covenant was above all to prevent new wars, securing human rights and the regulation of world trade. Main body of this covenant would be the "World Council", which also elected an executive committee. Under his plan a ''Weltjustizhof'', a
World Court of Arbitration and administrative authorities would be built. This ordered by paragraphs plan had the form of a state constitution. Another plan for a supranational organisation he developed in 1920 as "Guidelines for a true
League of Nations" in the form of a resolution. In 1922, he served for a short time as the President of the
German Peace Society The German Peace Society (german: Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft (DFG)) was founded in 1892 in Berlin. In 1900 it moved its headquarters to Stuttgart. It still exists and is known as the ''Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Vereinigte Kriegsdienstgegne ...
, of which he was a member from 1919 to 1929.
In the 1920s, Kessler as a journalist tried to influence the political debates of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. He wrote essays on different social and foreign policy issues, such as socialism, or the
League of Nations. He belonged to the left-liberal
German Democratic Party (DDP) and wrote a biography of his 1922 murdered friend
Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician.
During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau s ...
(then Foreign minister). In 1924, he was a DDP candidate for the Reichstag. When this attempt failed, he withdrew from politics. In the twenties, Kessler was frequently a guest at the Berlin
SeSiSo Club. In 1932/33, material co-edited by him appeared in the magazine ''Das Freie Wort'' (''The Free Word''). After the Nazis' seizure of power in 1933, Kessler resigned and emigrated to Paris, then to Mallorca and finally to the southern French provinces. He died in 1937 in Lyon.
It was presumed that Kessler's earlier diaries had been lost but they were found in 1983 in a safe in Mallorca. In 2004, the first definitive nine volume edition was published in Germany and the first English edition of the 1880–1918 years was published in 2011.
[
]
References
Works
* ''Gesammelte Schriften in drei Bänden''. Fischer, Frankfurt/M. 1988.
** Vol 1: ''Gesichter und Zeiten''.
** Vol 2: ''Notizen über Mexiko''.
** Vol 3: ''Erinnerungen''.
* ''Das Tagebuch 1880–1937''. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2004 ff.
**Published:
**Vol. 2: ''1892–1897''.
**Vol. 3: ''1897–1905''.
**Vol. 4: ''1906–1914''.
**Vol. 5: ''1914–1916''.
**Vol. 6: ''1916–1918''.
**Vol. 7: ''1919–1923''.
**Vol. 8: ''1923–1926''.
**Vol. 9: ''1926–1937''.
* ''Walther Rathenau : Sein Leben und Werk'', (1928).
Bibliography
* (in German)
*
* (in German)
* (text first published in 1971)
* (in German)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kessler, Harry Graf
1868 births
1937 deaths
Writers from Paris
Counts of Germany
German Democratic Party politicians
Ambassadors of Germany to Poland
Ballet librettists
LGBT autobiographies
German book publishers (people)
German diarists
German emigrants to France
German male non-fiction writers
German Peace Society members
Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold members
People educated at St. George's School, Ascot
People educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
German Army personnel of World War I
German people of Irish descent
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