Kunstgewerbeschule
A Kunstgewerbeschule was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for these schools. From the 1920s and after World War II, most of them either merged into universities or closed, although some continued until the 1970s.
Students generally started at these schools from the ages of 16 to 20 years old, although sometimes as young as 14, and undertook a four-year course, in which they were given a general education and also learnt specific arts and craft skills such as weaving, metalwork, painting, sculpting, etc.
Some of the most well known artists of the period had been Kunstgewerbeschule students, including Anni Albers, Peter Behrens, René Burri, Otto Dix, Horst P. Horst, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele and Oskar Schlemmer. Many students accepted into the renowned Bauhaus art school had previously studied at Kunstgewerbeschulen.
List of Kunstgewerbeschulen (selected)
In order of date opened:- Wien .The Kunstgewerbeschule Wien became a higher education institute in 1941, and became the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 1999. Its main building was designed in 1877. The school was closely affiliated with the Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, now the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, known as MAK, which was founded in 1863. Notable alumni of the Kunstgewerbeschule include Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka and Lucie Rie.
- Berlin. Berlin had two Kunstgewerbeschulen. The teaching institute of the Berlin Museum of Applied Arts,, opened on 12 January 1868. The museum itself was founded in 1866 as an initiative of a private museum association. The school was set up to provide an alternative to academic arts training. From 1881 the school was based in the museum's Martin-Gropius-Bau building in Niederkirchnerstraße in Kreuzberg. In 1885 the Prussian state took over the Kunstgewerbemuseum and its affiliated school. In 1924, the school was separated from the museum and merged with the Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste, to become the Vereinigten Staatsschulen für Freie und Angewandte Kunst. It is one of the predecessors of the Hochschule der Künste Berlin which was founded in 1975, and which since 2001 has been the Universität der Künste Berlin . The other Berlin Kunstgewerbeschule, founded in 1899, was also integrated into what is now UdK, see below. The Reimann School in Berlin, founded in 1902, was also a vocational arts school, but it was privately funded, rather than being a state-funded Kunstgewerbeschule.
- München The Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule München was renamed the Staatsschule für angewandte Kunst in 1928, and in 1937 renamed again as the Akademie für angewandte Kunst. In 1946 it was incorporated into the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München.
- Kassel. The school grew from an art academy founded in 1777 and was established as the Werkkunstschule on 24 May 1869. It closed at the beginning of World War II and its premises were used as a military hospital, which stopped operating in May 1943 due to flood damage caused by the bombing of the Edersee Dam, of the Dam Busters fame. The school reopened under the name Schule für Handwerk und Kunst in 1946. After various name changes and changes of premises this merged into the Kunsthochschule Kassel in 1970, which, in 1971, became a faculty of the University of Kassel.
- Stuttgart. The school was called the Württembergische staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule. In 1946 it became the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart.
- Kaiserslautern. The school was founded as the Pfälzische kunstgewerbliche Fachschule in 1874, along with the Königliche Kreisbaugewerkschule. About 1938 both schools merged to become the present day Meisterschule für Handwerker Kaiserslautern.
- Dresden. It was founded as the Königlich-Sächsische Kunstgewerbeschule. It became the Akademie für Kunstgewerbe in 1921, and merged with the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1950 to become the present day Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden.
- Leipzig. The Königliche Kunstakademie und Kunstgewerbeschule was established in 1876, from the earlier Zeichnungs-, Malerey- und Architectur-Academie which was founded in 1764. The writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe, then a law student, started attending drawing classes there from Autumn 1765. From 1900 the school was called the Königliche Akademie für graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe. After World War II, in 1947, it became the Akademie für Graphik und Buchkunst - staatliche Kunsthochschule, and in 1950 the Hochschule für Graphik und Buchkunst. Today it is known as the :de:Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig|Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst / Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig .
- Breslau . The Königlichen Kunst und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau, founded in 1876 in what was then Prussia. It had its origins in the provincial art school, Provinzialkunstschule, founded in 1791. This became the Königlichen Kunst- Bau- und Handwerkerschule in 1816. From 1911 it was the :de:Staatliche Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Breslau. It was closed on 1 April 1932 in the wake of an emergency decree issued under Article 43 of the Weimar Constitution. A new art school, now called the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in English, was established in Wrocław in March 1946.
- Pforzheim. The school was founded as the Herzoglichen Kunstgewerbeschule und Fachschule für die Metallindustrie. It merged into the Staatlichen Höheren Wirtschaftsfachschule, a teritary institute for economics founded in 1963, a predecessor of the Hochschule Pforzheim, a business, design and engineering institution.
- Karlsruhe. The Kunstgewerbeschule Karlsruhe, established 1878, merged with the Großherzoglichen Badischen Kunstschule Karlsruhe in 1920, to create the Badische Landeskunstschule. This closed in 1944, and reopen in 1947 as the Badischen Akademie der bildenden Künste. Since 1961 it has been the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe.
- Frankfurt am Main. Founded in 1878, in about 1930 the Kunstgewerbeschule Frankfurt was integrated into the Städelschule, an art school which had its origins in the Städel Art Institute which had been established in Frankfurt in 1817. The school is now known as the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste - Städelschule.
- Zürich. Along with a number of other institutions, the Kunstgewerbeschule Zurich is a predecessor of the Zurich University of the Arts.
- Nürnberg . The present day Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg , originated from a painting academy founded in 1662, making it the oldest art school in the German speaking world. In 1820 it was renamed the Königliche Kunstschule. Due to government pressure to develop trade and commerce in Nuremberg, in 1883 it became the Kunst- und Kunstgewerbeschule, focusing solely on applied arts rather than fine art. It became the Staatsschule für angewandte Kunst in 1928, and in 1940 it got its current name.
- Düsseldorf. The :de:Kunstgewerbeschule Düsseldorf was opened on 3 April 1883. It closed at the end of the school year in 1918. In 1919 its architectural courses were transferred to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
- Magdeburg. The Magdeburg school developed from a drawing school founded on 6 October 1793. It became the :de:Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule Magdeburg on 9 October 1887. It closed in 1963.
- Hamburg. The Kunstgewerbeschule Hamburg was renamed the Landeskunstschule in 1928, and became the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg in 1955.
- Erfurt. The school was officially called :de:Kunstgewerbeschule Erfurt|de:Staatlich-Städtischen Handwerker-und Kunstgewerbeschule. It was informally known as the Hügelschule, because it is in a street called Am Hügel. It became the Fachschule für angewandte Kunst in 1946. From 1955 it was part of Erfurt teachers' training college and since 2001 it has been the art and music building of the University of Erfurt Education Faculty.
- Berlin The second of the two applied arts schools in Berlin had its origins in a continuing education school set up in 1861 for young tradesmen. In 1899 it was established as the :de:Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule |Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule . From 1900 until 1943 it was based in Eosanderstraße in Charlottenburg. In November 1943 the building was destroyed in an air raid.
- Weimar. Officially called the :de:Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar|de:Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar, the school was founded following the formation of the Kunstgewerbliche Institut, Weimar in 1905. The school closed in 1915 following the departure of its Belgian director, Henry van de Velde, due to political pressure, as Germany and Belgium were on opposing sides in the First World War.
In 1919 the buildings used by the former Kunstgewerbeschule and the neighbouring Hochschule für Bildende Kunst became the base of the newly founded Bauhaus art school. The buildings, designed by Henry van de Velde between 1904 and 1911, are now part of the Bauhaus World Heritage Site.
The Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau in 1925. The buildings in Weimar were used by successor arts related educational institutions. There were also other art schools, at other sites, in Weimar, including the Fürstliche freie Zeichenschule Weimar, which existed from 1776-1930, and the Staatliche Bauschule Weimar. After various mergers, restructurings and renamings, the present day Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, founded in 1996 after German reunification, operates on the former Bauhaus site, teaching art and design related courses.
- Halle The school was established as the Handwerkerschule der Stadt Halle in 1915, following the merger of the Provinzial-Gewerbeschule, founded in 1852, and the Gewerblicher Zeichenschule, founded in 1870. It was renamed the Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule in 1918. In 1921-22 the school moved into the lower castle of Burg Giebichenstein, after which it was called the Werkstätten der Stadt Halle, Staatliche-stadtische Kunstgewerbeschule Burg Giebichenstein.
- Wiesbaden. The Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Wiesbaden grew from a continuing education school established in 1817. From 1844 that school was supported by the trades association of the Duchy of Nassau, the Gewerbeverein für Nassau. By 1881 it had three departments offering lessons in commerce, drawing and model making. In 1918 the city of Wiesbaden took over the school, and in 1919 it was established as the Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule. The same year the school moved into a building built in 1863 for a primary school, which was designed by the architect Philipp Hoffmann. The building now houses the Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, the city art gallery. The school closed in 1934. It reopened in 1947 and was renamed as the Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden in 1949. In 1971 it merged with the engineering colleges in Geisenheim, Idstein and Rüsselsheim to form the Fachhochschule Wiesbaden, which since 2013 has been called the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.