Karl Scheffler's career is unique: He started as a painter's apprentice in a Hamburg craft business and worked his way up to become a pattern designer in a Berlin wallpaper factory. In his free time, he wrote art critiques that were published in Meier-Graefe's magazine 'Dekorative Kunst' and in Harden's 'Zukunft'. The texts were distinguished by both intellectual sharpness and historical richness, which led to Scheffler being appointed editor of the magazine 'Kunst und Künstler' in 1905. He held this position until 1933, creating a forum for art appreciation over nearly three decades, whose thematic diversity and content quality remain unmatched to this day and helped modern art in Germany achieve breakthrough success. In his memoirs, which exclude his youth years, Scheffler describes his development in the context of society.