The Henry McBride Foundation was formed in July 2001. The founder, Maximilian Miltzlaff, was a good friend of Henry McBride and took care of McBride until his death in 1962, at the age of 94. Max was determined that his friends name would not be ‘writ in sand’, and has committed his estate to support the Arts in the name of McBride. Max turned 100 in September 2003.

The Henry McBride Foundation is dedicated to looking at art; past, present and future. Back to those classic pieces of art and literature that have all but disappeared into obscurity and to reintroduce them to a new generation. Looking forward we support the new generation of creative spirits that were McBride’s signature, whether that be support of the arts in schools, art as a form of expression, or simply supporting young talent in realizing their own goals.

The Foundation supports "The Henry McBride Series in Modernism and Modernity", published by Yale University Press and focusing on modernism and the arts in their many contexts.

Maximilian Heinrich Miltzlaff was born in Bremerhaven, Germany on September 28th, 1903. His father, and grandfather, were both ship Captains, his mother was a talented artist in her own right. The only son, he had three sisters, one older and two younger.

In 1914 his father kept a promise to his two eldest children to visit America. So, leaving his mother and two younger sisters behind in Bremerhaven, he and his sister Annaliese set forth on what was to be a summer vacation aboard the German steamship "S.S. Breslau". A day after docking in New Orleans war was declared and all German ships were interned – America was not yet in the war so for three years the ship remained anchored in mid-Mississippi, with the children commuting by lifeboat to school on shore. Apparently most of the crew jumped ship early on so Max, his father, his sister and a skeleton crew, remained on the vessel for the three years. As Max says "I was the most popular boy in school , everyone want to come to the Breslau". When America finally joined the war, their father was arrested and would not be seen by the children for two years. What would be unheard of today, the two teenagers, aged 15 and 13, were put on the dock in New Orleans by the local police and told to fend for themselves.

Fortunately Max’s father had made a few friends in New Orleans so, prompted by his elder, and extremely confident sister, Max and Annaliese deposited themselves on Mr. and Mrs. Rapps doorstep, the local luggage merchants, where they lived for the next two years.

In 1919 Max and his sister, after their five-year "vacation", returned home to Germany with their father – but America was where Max wanted to be. When he was 19, Max would once again set sail for America, this time his journey would take him to a successful career in the industry he loved – passenger liners.

Max’s greatest memories however remain with his friends. He has enjoyed some wonderful friendships and his apartment is full of photographs of people long since past. While at the opera, Max met Henry McBride – perhaps the most respected art critic of the 20th Century. It would be the start of a friendship that lasted twenty-five years through to McBride’s death at the age of 94. Max had looked after McBride for many of those years and until his death in 1962, since when Max formed "The Henry McBride Foundation", the goal of which is to promote the name of McBride through supporting the arts. Although Mr. Miltzlaff is himself over 100 years old he was not part of the artistic community that McBride socialized in at the turn of the century. However, he certainly is interested in the modernist movement, and has contributed his entire estate to the protection of art criticism, preservation of literature and expanding people’s knowledge of McBride’s contribution to the medium. Over 15 years ago he established a fund with Yale to enable literature, which had no commercial value but an important historical value, to be published.