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:
During the Nazi period, in 1936, the school was renamed the Meisterschule des deutschen Handwerks der Reichshauptstadt. After the war it was again renamed as the Meisterschule für das Kunsthandwerk. In 1952 it moved into a building on what is now the Straße des 17. Juni, which now belongs to the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1964 the art school was called the Staatliche Werkkunstschule, and from 1966 the Staatliche Akademie für Werkkunst und Mode. In 1971, it was integrated into the Hochschule für Bildende Künste. In 1975, this became the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, which since 2001 has been the Universität der Künste Berlin .
A separate school, on a neighbouring site, the Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar, was founded in 1860 and 1910 it became a higher education institute named the Großherzoglich Sächsische Hochschule für Bildende Kunst.
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.
Quite a number of former students and teachers from the Bauhaus went to work at the school, including: Gerhard Marcks, the Rector from 1928-1933; Hans Wittwer, who ran the Architecture department; Benita Koch-Otte, who ran the weaving workshop; Marguerite Friedländer and Erich Consemüller. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, these people and other staff considered to be avant-garde were dismissed. The Painting, Graphic Design, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography and Carpentry workshops were all closed. In 1938 it was renamed the Meisterschule des Deutschen Handwerks auf Burg Giebichenstein Halle-Saale, Werkstätten der Stadt Halle. "Meisterschule" was a term used by the Nazis; after World War II the school had a number of name changes. In 2011 it became the .