Labor Council for Art
The Arbeitsrat für Kunst was an association of architects, painters, sculptors and art writers, which was founded in Berlin in 1918 and existed until 1921 . It was created as a reaction to the workers 'and soldiers' councils founded at that time and had set itself the goal of bringing the current developments and tendencies in architecture and art closer to a broad population.
The group worked closely with the Novembergruppe and the Deutscher Werkbund . Some of the architects represented on the work council later joined together to form the Glass Chain , a correspondence circle, or were members of the ring from 1926 . These are considered to be an important source of inspiration for the foundation of the Bauhaus . Individual members taught at the State Academy for Arts and Crafts in Breslau , the most important art college of the time alongside the Bauhaus.
aims
“At the top is the motto: Art and people must form a unit. Art should not be more enjoyment less, but happiness and life of the masses. The aim is to bring together the arts under the wings of a great architecture. "
The demands included: the recognition of all construction tasks as public and non-private tasks, the abolition of all civil servant privileges, the construction of people's houses as central bodies for the mediation of art, the dissolution of the Academy of Arts and the Prussian State Art Commission , the exemption of the teaching of architecture , Sculpture, painting and handicrafts under the tutelage of the state, the revitalization of museums as educational institutions, the removal of artistically worthless monuments and the formation of a Reich office to ensure the preservation of art.
The labor council reacted to the poor order situation for young architects, which was connected with the lost First World War .
Members
The first spokesman was the architect Bruno Taut , from 1919 Walter Gropius , César Klein and Adolf Behne acted as chairmen.
The signatories of the first manifesto were - in addition to Taut, Gropius, Klein and Behne - Otto Bartning , Rudolf Belling , Arthur Degner , Lyonel Feininger , Otto Freundlich , Jefim (Jef) Golyscheff , August Griesbach , Hermann Hasler , Erwin Hahs , Erich Heckel , Paul Rudolf Henning , Karl Jakob Hirsch , Walter Kaesbach , Georg Kolbe , Gerhard Marcks , Ludwig Meidner , Moritz Melzer , Otto Mueller , Franz Mutzenbecher , Emil Nolde , Max Pechstein , Friedrich Perzynski , Heinrich Richter-Berlin , Richard Scheibe , Karl Schmidt-Rottluff , Fritz Stuckenberg , Georg Tappert , Max Taut , Arnold Topp and Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner .
Over 100 artists from Germany and abroad were among the supporters of the work council and among the participants in its exhibitions. These included Karl Paul Andrae , Walter Curt Behrendt , Max Berg , Paul Cassirer , Hermann Finsterlin , Paul Goesch , Otto Gothe , Wenzel Hablik , Oswald Herzog , Bernhard Hoetger , Willy Jaeckel , Käthe Kollwitz , Carl Krayl , Mechtilde Lichnowsky , Hans and Wassili Luckhardt , Paul Mebes , Ludwig Meidner , Julius Meier-Graefe , Adolf Meyer , Erich Mendelsohn , Johannes Molzahn , Karl Ernst Osthaus , Hans Poelzig , Paul Schmitthenner , Herman Sörgel , Milly Steger , Heinrich Tessenow and Wilhelm Worringer .
Actions
The work council promoted its conception of art and architecture through exhibitions, publications and public calls. His exhibitions were also open to non-members, and “non-architects” were invited to participate with drawings, models, sketches and sculptures.
Exhibitions
- “Exhibition for unknown architects”, Berlin 1919, graphic cabinet by JB Neumann; Weimar 1919, Museum on Karlsplatz; Magdeburg 1919, art gallery.
- "New Building", Berlin, 1920
- “Exhibition of art for workers”, Berlin - Friedrichshain, January 1920
Publications
- Bruno Taut: An architecture program . Berlin 1918
- Paul Rudolf Henning: Sound. A call from PR Henning. Second leaflet of the Art Labor Council . Berlin around 1918
- Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Ed.): Arbeitsrat für Kunst. Leaflet . Cover with woodcut by Max Pechstein , Berlin 1919
- Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Ed.): Yes! Voices of the work council for art in Berlin . Berlin 1919
- Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Ed.): Call to Build: Second book publication of the Arbeiterrats für Kunst . Berlin 1920
- Otto Bartning: A Lesson Plan for Architecture and Fine Arts
literature
- Marcel Bois : Art and Architecture for a New Society. Russian avant-garde, Labor Council for Art and the Viennese Settler Movement in the Interwar Period , in: Work - Movement - History , Issue III / 2017, pp. 12–34.
- Marcel Bois : “The art! - that's one thing! If it is there ”. On the history of the work council for art in the early Weimar Republic , in: bauhaus-imaginista.org, January 2019.
- Karl Ernst Osthaus: speeches and writings. Folkwang - Werkbund - Labor Council . König, Cologne 2002. ISBN 3-88375-560-5
- Wolfgang Pehnt: The Architecture of Expressionism . (3. Edition). Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 1998. ISBN 3-7757-0668-2
- Regine Prange: Architectural fantasy without architecture? The work council for art and its exhibitions , in: Thorsten Scheer, Josef Paul Kleihues, Paul Kahlfeldt (Eds.): Building in Berlin: 1900–2000. City of architecture. City architecture 1900–2000. Nicolai, Berlin 2000. ISBN 3-87584-013-5
- Manfred Schlösser: Labor Council for Art: Berlin 1918–1921. Akademie der Künste, Berlin 1980. ISBN 3-88331-916-3
- Eberhard Steneberg: Working council for art. Berlin 1918–1921. Marzona, Düsseldorf 1987. ISBN 3-921420-33-4
- Paul Weber, Andreas Marx: Ludwig Mies' unrealized participation in the "Exhibition for Unknown Architects" (1919). Materials on the development history of Mies van der Rohe , in: Werner Breunig, Uwe Schaper (Ed.): Berlin in history and present. Yearbook of the Berlin State Archives 2009. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2010, pp. 195–263. ISBN 978-3-7861-2602-7