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Hubertus Joseph Pilates – Biography

– Javier Pérez Pont

This is the story of a genius of physical culture, who overcame all kinds of family, economic, political, social and cultural vicissitudes to create a revolutionary philosophy and praxis on how to relate to ourselves, which he called Contrology and which, unfortunately, even today, still does not occupy its deserved place in history.

Thanks to his inexhaustible curiosity, tenacity and discipline, he obtained as a final result, an unparalleled work of art and science, which even after 45 years of its creator’s death, remains as revolutionary as Contrology was undoubtedly in its beginnings in Germany.

Hubertus Joseph wanted since his arrival in the United States to create a legend and a myth about himself. This was the dream of many at that time and it is still the dream of many today. He arrived, settled forever at 939 Eighth Avenue and at that very moment began to fantasize and mythologize himself until the end of his days. This is the enormous difficulty in knowing the truth about his figure and his person.

But in the end, the truth itself is more interesting than the myth and reveals to us an exceptional human being in his work and only “human” in his life trajectory. But it is this “human” aspect that interests us now and makes us understand why Contrology is contained in his 84 years of life and that in the end also reveals a human being with an exceptional life.

Today we constantly try to pay tribute to his genius but, although in life, he enjoyed the recognition of his efforts and successes in a relatively important way, he did not live to enjoy the success as he desperately desired throughout his life. His great desire and personal frustration was just that: the official recognition of the value of Contrology as an indispensable basis in the education of the human being from its beginnings, in childhood, in schools from a very early age.

In this way, the human race could access a higher level in its evolutionary climb. How to behave and understand what it means to “stand”, and learn it from childhood, so as to understand the mechanisms of the human body and live the rest of our lives in accordance with the word “dignity”.

And not only that, since the above was only a means to his ultimate goal, which was nothing more or less than the improvement of the human race physically, intellectually and spiritually. A political theorist, not so original anyway, who again links his ideas and his work with Ancient Greece.

An endeavor that, due to a very marked character, he did not achieve during his lifetime, in spite of his infinite attempts. But we do not believe that this was the only problem of the failure of his desires, but also contributed definitely to a society that was not and still is not prepared to receive his teachings as universal. Hubertus Joseph once said: “I am 50 years ahead of my time”, and here I am reminded of the German philosopher Josef Pieper who defined “current” at a given historical moment as “not only what an epoch wants, but also what it needs”. I believe that Hubertus was “current”, too “current”, but the interests in all the epochs in which he lived pretended not to need him too much.

The biography of Hubertus Joseph Pilates is essential for anyone who is interested in knowing Contrology in depth. Moreover, his biography, his personality, his character, his tastes, his preferences, his political ideas, etc., are inseparable from his work. How can we dissociate a work of art from its author, can we speak of a composition by Beethoven, Schubert, Stravinsky, etc. without speaking of their biographies, of the historical periods in which they lived, of the economic situations they suffered or enjoyed? How can we dissociate the work of an artist from his own life, how can we believe that someone’s work is dissociated from the psychology of its creator, from his beliefs, from his philosophy of life?

We can enjoy a Bach composition without having any idea of his biography, since the work ultimately transcends its own engenderer, just as we can enjoy a lesson in Contrology without knowing anything about its creator. But it is here that this biography comes to take its place.

We should consider from now on that by knowing his life, his thoughts, anxieties, desires, etc. we will better understand the work in which we believe and which we defend.

Joe Pilates was not someone we can do without. Firstly, because his “work” is too big and important for us and for humanity. Secondly, because such a work cannot be dissociated from the spirit and psychology of its creator.

But although in my presentation today I am going to unveil three mysteries about his biography, it is not in my intention to make an exposition of specific events. My aim is different, that of drawing conclusions.

My first conclusion, and for me fundamental and absolutely necessary, is that we can and must investigate and unveil who our master really was and what his work really represents in history. A difficult but new and necessary task that until now has been covered by mythology and not by scientific and historical research. Both with regard to his life and also, in part, with regard to his work, Contrology.

We have reached a point in this discourse where we see that we can no longer dissociate the person who creates with the facts he produces. To paraphrase the psychiatrist Jacques Lacan, “what you do knows what you are”, and in the case of our master this phrase is even more evident.

We have two ways to gain access to a deep understanding of him. And the two need each other and complement each other. The first way is through his work, Contrology, and for this we must start, respect and thank the legacy of Romana Kryzanowska but we must also open the way to rigorous research of the legacy of Hubertus Joseph, both in terms of equipment and Know How. The results of this path would bring us closer to the person behind the work, to the creator.

Let us continue along this path: Contrology is defined for us by Joseph Hubertus

as a combination of art and science. And it does so in different but very similar ways: “Contrology is the science and art of coordinated body-mind-spirit development through natural movements under strict control of the will”, and “science and art of coordinated body-mind-spirit development through mild but rigorously disciplined physical movements”.

And we all believe so. But this very definition should be investigated as well. First of all, question the word science. He was not a scientist in the way traditionally understood, nor did he pursue official studies in any subject. However, and here is another of his great faculties, he did act and behave as such for the creation and development of Contrology.

This pathway is too intense to continue analyzing it here in this celebration so the results will be seen in another research paper in the future.

So let’s move on to the other way to get to know Hubertus Joseph and his Contrology, and that is through the reconstruction of the life of Joe Pilates to, by the opposite way to the previous one, understand and give a rigorous sense to the work he created. This was the reason that motivated us from the beginning to write this first biography of Joe Pilates in history, and in spite of everything, it is still open to be completed.

A researcher achieves thanks to the scientific method to set aside his subjectivity and obtain results closer to objectivity, but here is the word Art within the definition of Contrology. Joe goes further by letting the five parts of the mind he was talking about interact with the objective part, in order to enrich it in the end. This is why Contrology becomes extraordinary and unique.

In the word Art, within Hubertus Joseph’s definition, the use of these five parts of the mind becomes or should become mandatory for both the teacher and the performer.

And this word Art also encompasses the entire humanistic philosophy of its creator, otherwise, how else could one understand such a revolutionary work if it does not come from someone who is also extraordinary?

Philosophy is the way of thinking, seeing, describing, acting and understanding oneself and the world. Therefore it is essential to know this being ahead of his time not only with respect to his Contrology but also morally modern and ethically very elaborate. Joe takes up the Renaissance Humanism inspired by Classical Greece.

Why this is important, why understanding his ethical values should be important to understand his Contrology, no more and no less because they are reflected in the work he created, because they transmitted to us a spirit and a way of working and understanding the human body impregnated with ethical values that we have inherited, in our case, from Hubertus Joseph through Romana and his daughter Sari. And this is very important.

Morality is a set of social norms that are transmitted from generation to generation, which evolve over time and have strong differences with respect to the norms of another society and another historical era. Hubertus Joseph is also heir to a certain morality but that, reading the data of his life, he broke and changed for another more modern and creative morality.

However, Ethics, and it is here where we want to focus since it is the most relevant, is a set of rules that a subject has clarified and adopted in his own mentality as a guideline for his own conduct. Ethics arises as such in the interiority of a person, as a result of his own reflection and his own choice. And here, at this point, is where we wanted to arrive with the second way to understand Hubertus Joseph and Contrology as one.

Joe, besides breaking a moral inherited from a certain time and place, cultivated and created a personal ethic, very interesting, that we do not have to copy but we have to understand and learn from it.

I am going to continue along this path, that of Ethics, to glimpse aspects of his person. And for that I will talk about the connection again, in some conscious way but we do not think in a scholarly way, of Hubertus Joseph and Contrology with Ancient Greece. Of course we do not want to obviate, and we cannot do it either, the first source where Joe Pilates nourished himself which is in the German tradition of gymnastics, but it is in the Greek classics where he, as well as a whole generation of German pedagogues, artists and therapists of the same period, finds his dearest inspiration.

Therefore I am going to develop four virtues of Hubertus Joseph that are also four virtues of Contrology. And these four virtues are those that in Ancient Greece made up the “excellence” of citizenship.

But what is a virtue? A virtue is considered as a positive quality opposed to vice; virtue is identified with acting according to reason, avoiding being carried away by the affections or passions, thus allowing us to make the right decisions and therefore the best actions. Virtue requires rational choice and constant exercise of it, that is, that it becomes a habit. Therefore, virtue is knowledge and does not appear by nature but can be learned, as long as it is well taught.

The political (“civic”) excellence of the Greeks consisted in the cultivation of three specific virtues: Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. To these virtues Plato later added a fourth, Prudence. These virtues formed a relevant, useful and perfect citizen. Let us see how these virtues migrate from Hubertus Joseph to be recognized in the Contrology itself.

Let’s start with Temperance:

The Greeks called it Moderation or Equilibrium and it is synonymous with sobriety and continence.

Temperance speaks to us about self-control, it is the attitude of the reasonable man who is not willing to renounce the pleasures of life but who is also not willing to let himself be carried away by them to extremes that damage his own self-esteem.

Contrology is a method that, when practiced, provides pleasure or well-being but in a controlled, tempered way. Everything points to this virtue: few repetitions of the sequences of movements, the search for “less is more”, the quality before the quantity, the progress scaled and rationalized according to the physical aptitudes and general state of the practitioner, the work of all parts of the body without discrimination of some over others, etc. make a method based on temperance, often falsely described as “sweet”, “light” or “soft” by those who have used the name of the creator without understanding Contrology itself.

The method used by Contrology imposes an order in the execution, a precise choreography, a certain tempo, a precise rhythm, etc. but it does not forget the intensity in the progress, and it is the function of the teacher and the pupil to model in a tempered way this progress. For this, the teacher will have to make use of this virtue to teach to understand the advantages of the progressive evolution and the pupil to understand that the temperate way is the shortest and safest, and to avoid any excess that interrupts the progress. Who does not remember the famous phrase of our teacher who says that “moderation is the key to health”?

Which reminds us of the words engraved on the Temple of Delphi: “Nothing in excess.”

This is a virtue that Hubertus Joseph in his personal life had to work hard on throughout his life. A very intense man in his character, he had to, through self-discipline, temper the excesses of which he so often boasted in the newspapers. He boasted of being a great drinker, and he surely was, but all the personal interviews we have conducted show that he drank very moderately, always in beer, of course. This does not mean that on more than one occasion he went a little over the limits. He also boasted of being a heavy smoker, and a few people confirm this. He smoked, yes, but never inside his studio, and at the time it was not abnormal to do so everywhere without discrimination. He liked cigars and also smoked cigarettes, but in general he did it in his moments of relaxation and in big celebrations.

A person of very liberal ideas in many ways, he was also very conservative in others. Known by all for his great character, he did not go unnoticed, but almost nobody remembers him in any excess. Son of the German culture and education of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, “outwardly” he was all protocol and proof of this was the golden rule of the Studio where forms were never lost and no one socialized the least. Another example is that he is remembered for his extreme punctuality and his little or no patience with others if they were not interesting enough for him.

Undoubtedly, in my opinion, this virtue was a workhorse all his life, he himself against and for himself, and he expressed it in a great phrase: “it is difficult to control others but it is much more difficult to control oneself”.

Let’s continue with La Justicia:

A beautiful virtue that would come to tell us that it is the distribution of goods, rights and obligations to each one according to his merit or demerit. Therefore, each one must receive what he has given or the equivalent. Is there anything else in line with Contrology? So much you give, so much you receive, but our Contrology is even more beneficent than this previous sentence, it always gives you more than you give.

Hubertus Joseph lived fully in this virtue and for this very reason he suggested, recommended, and implored justice to him and to his Contrology: to occupy its deserved place in the education of the human being and its place in history. For him, because he was the creator, and for Contrology because he was more than convinced that it was just and good and for that very reason it needed and deserved recognition. This was justice and that is why he became more and more critical and acid towards the governmental and state bodies of the United States.

Several times in his life, think of his first trip to Great Britain, his divorce with his second wife, his renunciation of having and maintaining a traditional family, his American adventure, etc., he had to make big and very hard decisions that, from a bird’s eye view might even seem crazy or selfish, but a deeper reading indicates that they were decisions that led him to what we know him for today. He did himself justice in order to become who he was and this he achieved only with his ingenuity. Otherwise, he would have lived a life that might have been less complicated but certainly frustrating and unhappy for him.

Contrology does not distinguish between age, religious or ethical beliefs, race or sex, it gives everyone the opportunity to practice and receive what is rightfully theirs. A practitioner of Contrology must assume obligations to himself and also has the right to improve any aspect. Contrology gives you this possibility and distributes to each one what is invested, always, because it is built on voluntariness, constructivity and positivity.

According to Roman Law, Justice is the constant and perpetual will to give each one his right and these rights are to live honestly, to do no harm to anyone and to give each one his due.

And here again Hubertus Joseph as Contrology exercised this virtue far ahead of the society of the time. Today it is hard to imagine but when Hubertus came from Germany to settle permanently in the United States, from 1927 when he opened the doors of his famous Studio, he broke with many norms and customs of American society. From the beginning it was a mixed club, the women, and this was very strange, had the doors open to train along with the men. Without distinction. The most famous gyms at the time, such as Sigmund Klein’s Studio, Joe Bonomo, Professor Attila, Georges Bothner, Charles Atlas, Bob Hoffman and many more, were exclusively for men.

That we have obtained evidence of it, since the end of the thirties it accepted, and in the same room, clients of color. We are talking about something extreme, since we had to wait more than thirty years for the end of racial segregation in the country. And the same thing happened with all kinds of people, regardless of religion, sexual tendency and regardless of their belonging to one or another social and economic stratum of society. From the most millionaires to people who could not afford to pay for the classes. All in the same room.

Now it is the turn of La Prudencia:

When defining this virtue, I have the impression that I am talking directly about Contrology: it is the care, moderation, caution, precaution or wisdom that is put into doing something to avoid inconveniences, damages and difficulties.

Let us remember the name of the method, Contrology, literally the Science of Control; he could perfectly well have called his method Prudenciology, that is, the Science of Prudence. But he went further, let us simply remember that Control is one of the Six Fundamental Principles of Contrology. I will not add anything more on this point as it requires no further explanation.

As for Hubertus Joseph and this virtue, another workhorse in his life. He acted very prudently socially, but his very marked character and his clear and direct personality earned him quite a few enemies. With himself, and with his third wife Clara, it seems that this virtue was on the right track: the two very liberal accepted each other’s independence, respected and admired each other.

Joe planned the protection of Contrology so firmly that he spent thousands of dollars, and even before his American period, on patents and intellectual protection of his books well into the 1950s. It was his obsession to protect his work for posterity and, despite patenting and defending his exclusivity throughout his life, history after his death turned all this prudence that characterized our master for his Contrology on its head.

Finally, the Fortress:

This was undoubtedly Hubertus Joseph’s strongest virtue in all aspects. We could summarize his entire biography with this virtue alone. Fortitude is a virtue that is based on character and not on calculation or preparation.

The Greeks called it Courage and affirmed that it was favored by bodily education and exercises of self-mastery over the will to power.

In short, this virtue is about the ability to overcome effort, adversity and pain and would be synonymous with solidity, endurance, vigor, energy, integrity, firmness, righteousness.

Would we have to talk about the link of Fortitude with Contrology? Or are not the above mentioned words such as vigor, solidity, energy, wholeness intrinsic to it? And exactly the same for the practitioner of it, or are they not words used by the practitioners themselves to describe their views after practicing Contrology for a certain period?

Hubertus Joseph’s biography shows many aspects of his life and personality where the word Strength, in all the senses we want to apply it, fits perfectly with his life: to begin with, we find a child belonging to a large family with hardly any economic resources and with a boundless determination to broaden his knowledge. When he was just a teenager, he had to leave the family home in order to earn a living and plan his future. Something unthinkable in our society today under normal circumstances.

With only one eye, since he lost it at the age of five, he is determined to devote himself for life to body cultivation without prejudice to his handicap. On the contrary. Determined and with an uncommon fortitude, after the premature death of his first wife, he decided to make a radical new start, and in another field than the one he had already dedicated himself to for fourteen years, that of brewing. He left for Great Britain to start from scratch and without speaking the language.

He is immediately arrested by the security forces because of a war and a historical mistake about people of German origin.

Not at first, but later he took advantage of this misfortune, which lasted five years of confinement in five different Detention Camps, to learn and survive.

Extradited back to a Germany defeated and shattered by the loss of the war, he meets his second wife, starts another family and decides to devote himself fully to what in a few years he called Contrology.

He abandoned everything to go alone to Hamburg to focus and prepare for the leap to glory, later traveling to New York.

And so, we could go on endlessly telling stories about the facts that produced Joseph Hubertus Pilates, which is how he legally called himself since 1929, and that show courage, determination and determination based on an inner strength, ethical and spiritual, without scratches. He knew what he wanted, he knew perfectly well what he had in his hands, he knew who he was and his mission, without doubts. And he went for it all, without concessions, without ever buckling.

We still find him in 1964, at 81 years of age, inaugurating the second Pilates Foundation of his life; in 1965; at 82 years of age trying to change the location of the original Studio, opening a second branch and also fighting like a beast against his own friends who helped him create the Foundation.

We only see him, at 83 years of age, a year before he died, flagging in his hopes, participating the least in his own Study and very upset. But he never gave up.

The ultimate purpose of virtue is to reach happiness and surely, everything points to it, Hubertus Joseph was not. He subordinated it to the triumph of Contrology. Buddhists say that happiness is a decision to be made, and he decided not to make that decision because his method was so intrinsic to his person and life that he could not dissociate it. His radical conviction, his pride in his work and in himself, and his vision of the future prevented him from renouncing the success he undoubtedly deserved during his lifetime. And this simply did not happen. But quoting again Josef Pieper “to be just means only this: to have a debt and to pay it”, giving me the impression that this was precisely the mission of Hubertus Joseph, and as he defined himself, as a Prometheus, he came to deliver a work to humanity, Contrology, and this is how he lived it, as a duty. And this was delivered to us and we are the ones in charge of putting Joe Pilates and Contrology in the true place that corresponds to them in history.