From Ernst Junger’s Aladdin’s Problem:
Kornfeld was a renowned sculptor, but he no longer practiced. He said: “We sculptors are like the butterfly collectors who hang up their nets because the butterflies are dying out. For us, it is heads that are growing rare …”
He added: “For me, a tyranny would be advantageous, though naturally, I can’t say that out loud.”
“But Herr Kornfeld – our experiences would tend to confirm the opposite.”
“My dear Baroh, you are confusing tyrants and demagogues – that is a common error in our time. The demagogue stirs one and the same dough; he is a pastry chef, at best a plasterer and painter. The tyrant supplies individual shapes. Down to his bodyguards. Think of the Renaissance: tyrants ruled everywhere, from every small town up to the Vatican. That was the great era for sculptors, for art in general.”
Extracts 