Third German arts and crafts exhibition in Dresden
The Third German Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Dresden took place from May 12 to October 31, 1906 under the motto “A pageant of German arts and crafts” in Dresden . The exhibition represented a significant breakthrough in the reform movement in the arts and crafts as a counter-movement to the industrial mass production that had arisen since the middle of the 19th century using the then widespread use of stylistic features of historicism .
history
environment
In the middle of the 19th century, industrial production showed high growth rates. The industrial locations recorded an increase in the number of inhabitants with the increase in employees, especially in the cities. There was an increased need for inexpensive apartments and everyday objects. Fast-paced mass production established itself, stylistically based on the wealth of forms of past epochs. This historically oriented style was characterized by the pretense of the use of precious materials and the use of excessive ornamentation and was used for simple everyday objects up to architecture.
Reform movement
Inspired by the English reform movement Arts and Crafts around William Morris and John Ruskin, forces formed in Germany in the last decade of the 19th century that critically examined the practice of “imitation”. In addition, the Vienna Secession with designers such as Josef Hoffmann , Joseph Maria Olbrich and Koloman Moser became an important impetus for the reform movement in Germany. The aim was a clarity and functional design of rooms and furniture as well as everyday objects. In architecture, the term reform architecture is used for this reform movement . They were also looking for a design that was adapted to the specific conditions of machine production.
exhibition
The third national arts and crafts exhibition of the Association of German Arts and Crafts Associations, like its two predecessors, which took place in 1876 under the title "Unser Vaeter Werk" and in 1888 under the title "German National", was to be held again in Munich . Fritz Schumacher , however, saw insurmountable difficulties for an implementation in Munich. At the general assembly of the German Arts and Crafts Association in Braunschweig in 1904, William Lossow , as a representative of the Dresden Arts and Crafts Association , proposed holding the exhibition in Dresden.
Several departmental committees were formed to organize the exhibition in Dresden. William Lossow served as Chairman of the Exhibitions Board and chaired the 19-person Working Committee of Department Committee Chairs. Numerous members of the Dresden artist group Die Zunft were significantly involved in the organization of the Third German Applied Arts Exhibition in Dresden , including William Lossow, Otto Gussmann , Karl Groß , Wilhelm Kreis , Max Hans Kühne , Fritz Schumacher, Oskar Seyffert and Heinrich Tscharmann .
The following areas and responsibilities (chair) were defined:
- Fine arts: Otto Gussmann
- Spatial art: Fritz Schumacher
- Church art: Cornelius Gurlitt
- Folk art: Oskar Seyffert
- Techniques: Karl Koetschau
- Schools: Karl Groß
- Individual handicraft products: Max Hans Kühne
- Industrial role models: Karl Groß
- Art industry by material group: Erich Kleinhempel
- Industrial machines and workshops: Max Buhle
- Press: Paul Schumann
- Finance Committee: Otto Beutler
- Organizing Committee: Felix Bondi
While the two exhibitions in Munich in 1876 and 1888 still took place with the participation of the large industrial companies, only artists were permitted as exhibitors in Dresden. Companies should only be accepted within the framework of collaborations with artists. This was intended to break the dictates of the company as the manufacturer towards the artist as the creator.
Henry van de Velde designed a museum hall for the exhibition, which was provided with 6 wall paintings by Ludwig von Hofmann . Henry van de Velde was head of the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Applied Arts in Weimar . He was one of the most versatile artists of Art Nouveau or Art Nouveau and a leading innovator in applied art .
The exhibition area was around 38.1 hectares , making it the largest total area ever made available in Germany for such an exhibition. Nevertheless, the 142 exhibition rooms and installations stood in close succession.
Effects
The exhibition represented a significant breakthrough in the reform movement in the arts and crafts. The exhibition went down in art history as a comprehensive exhibition that shaped the modern zeitgeist. The decision to hold the exhibition as an “artist's work” meant that the most important representatives of the German reform movement took part in the exhibition. On the other hand, after the exhibition ended, this decision led to a dispute between the exhibiting artists and the excluded manufacturers and dealers, which among other things led to the establishment of the Deutscher Werkbund . The German Werkbund continued the concerns of the reform movement.
literature
- Paul Schumann: The third German arts and crafts exhibition, Dresden 1906 , in: Kunstgewerbeblatt, Neue Zusammenarbeit, Verlag EA Seemann, Leipzig 1906, pp. 165, 185, 205 ( digitized ( memento from January 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) as PDF; 21 MB) .
- Günter Kloss: “III. German Applied Arts Exhibition Dresden 1906 ”and the artists' association“ Die Zunft ”in Dresden . In: Hans Erlwein: (1872-1914); City planning officer in Bamberg and Dresden . Imhof, Petersberg 2002, ISBN 3-932526-95-3 , p. 23-27 .
- Jutta Petzold-Herrmann: The 3rd German Applied Arts Exhibition in Dresden 1906 - an outstanding cultural event . In: Dresdner Geschichtsverein (Hrsg.): Dresdner Hefte . No. 36 , 1993, ISSN 0863-2138 , pp. 25-40 ( digitized version ).