AS I SEE IT — by JULIUS MOËSSEL

Möessel wrote extensively about art in Germany, but in America he left no great statement of his views. Instead, he penned brief comments about what he believed art should be and what he considered the deplorable state of contemporary trends in art. First of all, he speculated that the nature of  this time is governed by science, and that science attempts to make the world intelligible. Thus, he concluded, “realism arose spontaneously, after all things conceivable above man had been un-deified by the omnipotent rule of science.” But this state of affairs was not conducive to the creation of art, and imagination “fights against this state and seeks to assert itself by all possible means — in a vast field of error. And thus psychology, itself groping in semi-darkness (is a stepchild of serious science, or is it merely science gone astray?), strives to find motivations that might make the new concept of art both comprehensible and acceptable.” To psychologists and psychological painter, Moëssel said that “art is in no wise a pathological condition” and imagination cannot be learned and cannot be forced.” He continued that “a dim veil has been cast over the entire realm of art and has covered the true nature of artistic with an oppressive, quasi-scientific phraseology.”

This text is from, Möessel in America: 1926–1957, Jill Leslie Mckeever-Furst – the quotes Ms. Furst refers to are not in this biography, but within the 99 pages of “As I See It” his comments and views strike the similar tone, but greater depth and often a head spinning stream of conscious.

From Julius’s archive, enjoy.

Meine Biographie (first draft – March 2, 1951)
As I See It (final draft – December 1952)