Artists hate the word beauty, especially German artists. If you wanted to be really hated in Germany, then you would say, “My work is beautiful.” German artists believe in ugliness and nastiness. I think beauty can be something extremely important in our lives. And it’s not true that this is naive. This is what is the most needed: inner beauty and outer beauty, which is an incredible challenge for us.
– Wolfgang Laib
sub rosa 
I hear echoes of class and marxism in that, always intriguing ciphers in Germany.
I wonder, could it also have to do with our (Europe north/west) religious Protestant heritage?
That’s an interesting thought. Would you expand on that?
I am thinking of the banning of sensual decorations which followed the Reformation, this has in certain ways led to development of different aesthetic traditions in north and south.