Chapter 295: Inadvertently Preventing the Rise of a Dictator
After spending the weekend with his family, Bruno was summoned once more to another awards ceremony. But rather than taking place in the streets of Berlin for all the nation’s people to bear witness, or at least those living in the German Reich’s esteemed capital.
Bruno was summoned to the Hofburg in Vienna once more. It had been many years since the man had last stepped foot in this immaculate palace, which was a testament to the wealth of the Habsburg family, and the genius of Austria’s greatest architects.
And as he stood within the hallowed halls of the residence which housed the Austrian Royal Family, Bruno gazed upon the many portraits, motifs, and frescos which lie spread across the grand estate. Taking in their splendor with almost childlike wonder.
Perhaps Bruno was a bit biased, but when it came to art, he had a personal fondness for that which could be found across Europe during his current life. Or more specifically, during the early years, when it had yet to begin to degenerate into what was starting to become a twisted reality.
Modern art technically began with the impressionists within the 1860s, but such art, while not exactly as ideal as what had come before, was far superior to what was being pawned off as "art" today in the 1910s.
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And it wasn’t just paintings that were beginning to degenerate into an unrecognizable state, so called "modern architecture" appeared just as soulless when one compared it to such marvels of art and engineering which preceded it.
But then again, if one wanted to witness a civilization in decline, they simply needed to look at their art, and they could see it was on display. Perhaps because of this, Bruno had an extreme distaste for so-called modern, contemporary, and postmodern art, which was anything but what it claimed to be.
In fact, Bruno had over the course of the past decade gone through great lengths to counter the rise of modern art-styles such as Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, and Futurism within the borders of the German Reich.
Sponsoring talented artists in more traditional styles and even going so far as to have them improve upon those. From Bruno’s perspective, these more abstract designs which claimed to be art were a degeneration of European culture, and heritage, and as a result needed to be scoured and burned from the face of the Earth.
Thus, while these forms of art were currently flourishing in the lands of the allies. Painters, sculptors, and other forms of artisans in the lands of the Central Powers were continuing with art that displayed the beauty of nature.
Whether it be the landscape, the grand feats which humans have built throughout their history as a species, or simply the depiction that was the perfection of the human form itself.