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J. 0.Geissert reported on safety conditions in an artist’s studio at a time whenpolyester and epoxy resinswerebeingused to make sculpture. The hazards of the dangerous substances were reviewed, the safety procedures employed were outlined and the results of air sampling (solvent fumes) were discussed. This paper is important because it reveals what precautions were observed to produce safe working conditions. E. L. Baker and his colleague reported in some detail on the dangerous conditions produced in a workshop where personnel were being exposed to highly toxic cadmiumfumes in working with silver solder. H. P. Blejer in another paper reviewedingreater detail the health hazards of cadmium fumes and recommended better warning labeling of cadmium-containing solders and brazing alloys and better dissemination of information both to users of these products and to the medical profession. R. G. Felman discussedlead intoxication among workers engaged in making leaded-glasswindowsand among potters employinglead glazes. K. J. Kronoveter and C. R. Meyerreported on a stained-glassworkshop providing conditions judged to be safe. S. Guffey er al. examined the production of lead-bearing dusts in a stained-glass workshop and presented designs of effective ventilation arrangements. A. E. Lang treated the dangers of lead fumes and other substances in potters’ studios, and M. Ross01presented a comprehensive article on the safety of lead frits. Other papers of particular interest concerned a survey of potential health hazards in some collegeart departments (C. D. Schott), the rock dust exposures to a sculptor (K. J. Kronoveter), and the labeling of art materials (M. McCann; J. M. Montgomery; C. Jenkins). The editors presented brief but informative papers on the history of the movement destined to reduce the hazards to health in the visual arts. The discussions following the five sessions of the Conference are particularly informative. Many of the papers included helpful lists of references.The failure to print the date and location of the Conference was undoubtedly an oversight. The Berlin Secession: Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany. Peter Paret. Harvard University Press, London, 1980. 269 pp.. illus. €10.50. ISBN: 0-674-06773-8. Reviewed by Gerhard Charles Rump* Berlin Secessionwas the name of a groupof artists whotried to establish modernism against the conservative (and sometimes reactionary) conservatism of the academy, the cultural bureaucracy and the Kaiser, William 11, who was very outspoken against all forms of modernism in the arts. The Secession counted among its members such important figuresas Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, Kaethe Kollwitz,and, later, Ernst Barlach and Max Beckmann. These artists prepared the ground for a new art, a new aesthetic sensibility. They met with fierce resentment, which reflected both cultural and political trends in Imperial Germany. The Secessionhad an international outlook, but the official side favoured a rather narrowly defined ‘Deutsche Kunst’ (‘German Art’). At a time when nationalism ranked highest, this had to lead to intensive conflicts. A most notable conflict arose when it was decided that modern art should be presented in the German pavilion at the Saint Louis Exhibition in 1904.Art became a highlypolitical matter and the struggle with the government resulted in a parliamentary attack on imperial autocracy that must be rated sensational. It did not, however, result in modem art being shown in Saint Louis. The Secession played an important role in the frequent subsequent clashes between modern art, academic art and national policy. Most of the material treated by Professor Paret has been unpublished up to now, and the book also contains a number of illustrations, some of whichare reproduced for the first time. But that is not the only reason for the high importance of Paret’s study. We learn that the Secessionconstituted a major cultural force in Germany for a decade and a half, that it was responsible for eroding the prevailing parochialism and spirit of conformity from whichart in Germany had sufferedfor generations (the exact point from which the suffering took off was the lost revolution of 1848).It was only through the activities of the Secessionthat the public in Germany was exposed to the full spectrum of both native and foreign avant-garde art. The Secession also became the centre of German impressionism and developed later towards Expressionism, a remarkable...

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