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1889

World's Fair in Paris: Liebermann on the jury

Invited with Gotthardt Kuehl and Karl Köpping to the jury of the exhibition marking the centenary of the French Revolution, he obtained the consent of the Prussian minister Goßler and proposed presenting German painting through Menzel, Leibl, Trübner and von Uhde; the press accused him of serving the idea of revolution, but Menzel took his side. Liebermann received a medal of honour and was admitted to the Société des Beaux-Arts, but declined the Legion of Honour on the Prussian government's recommendation.

5 February 1892

The “Group of Eleven” is formed

Eleven independent artists joined forces in Berlin — the basis of the later Berlin Secession, which led the opposition to the conservative academic school. According to Lovis Corinth, soon after its founding Liebermann became the “secret leader of the eleven anarchists”.

1892

The Edvard Munch exhibition scandal in Berlin

The Association of Berlin Artists staged an exhibition of 55 paintings by Munch, but a general assembly voted 120 to 105 to close it, which finally split Anton von Werner's conservatives from Liebermann's modernists. Sixty protesting members of the Association united under his leadership in the “Free Association of Artists”.

1897

Jubilee exhibition for his 50th birthday at the Academy

For his half-century the Academy of Arts gave Liebermann an entire hall: 30 paintings, 9 drawings, 3 lithographs and 19 etchings. He was awarded a large gold medal and the title of professor of the Academy.

1898

President of the Berlin Secession

When the jury of the Great Berlin Art Exhibition, chaired by Anton von Werner, rejected a work by Walter Leistikow, Leistikow called on independent artists to unite, and Liebermann was elected president of the association. He appointed the gallerists Bruno and Paul Cassirer as secretaries, and his fame secured the Secession public interest.

1899

First exhibition of the Berlin Secession

Liebermann invited artists from the Munich, Darmstadt and Stuttgart secessions, as well as Arnold Böcklin, Hans Thoma, Max Slevogt, Lovis Corinth and the Worpswede painters. The show was an unexpectedly loud success with strong sales, and the heated discussions around it drew public attention to the fine arts; the result was surpassed in 1900.