Network Schools of Decorative Arts
The research network "Pioneers of Design Education. New Perspectives on German Schools of Decorative Arts Before the Bauhaus" („Pioniere der Designausbildung. Neue Perspektiven auf die deutschen Kunstgewerbeschulen vor dem Bauhaus“) was established in 2019 and is open to anyone interested in schools of decorative arts. If you are interested to join, please contact us.
The comprehensive investigation of German schools of decorative arts of the 19th and 20th centuries is a long-standing desideratum. This is not only true for the examination of the history of individual institutions as sites of artisanal-artistical education, but also for a deeper understanding of the genesis of the system of schools of decorative arts.
Researchers from various disciplines, affiliated to (art) universities, museums and non-academic science, are exchanging views in a widespread network on German schools of decorative arts in their sociocultural context, also internationally. Besides basic research on the history of institutions, overarching questions are considered, for example on curricula, reforms, teaching material, school types, protagonists and interconnectivity.
The network is a LAB at the Design Campus of the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and it organizes annual conferences, conference proceedings, and a Newsletter.
Image credits: Ziselierklasse Otto Rohloff, Unterrichtsanstalt des Berliner Kunstgewerbemuseums, um 1902.
Archiv der Universität der Künste Berlin 305-A 91, 4F.