Richard Graul

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Richard Graul

Richard Graul (born June 24, 1862 in Leipzig ; † December 25, 1944 there ) was a German art historian and museum director.

Life

Richard Graul grave in the south cemetery in Leipzig

The son of a wallpaper pattern maker and manufacturer completed an apprenticeship in bookselling in Frankfurt am Main . In 1881 he joined his father's pattern-drawing studio in Frankfurt, where he first became involved in the arts and crafts . In 1888 he received his doctorate in Zurich with a dissertation on the history of decorative sculpture in the Netherlands during the 16th century. From 1889 to 1892 he was secretary of the society for duplicating art in Vienna and also until 1894 editor of its magazine "Die graphischen Künste". In 1892 he began as a trainee in the sculpture collection and the picture gallery of the Berlin royal museums , there he became an assistant at the National Gallery in 1894 and worked at Julius Lessing's Museum of Applied Arts in 1896 .

In 1896 Graul left Berlin and went to the Leipzig Museum of Decorative Arts , of which he was director from 1896 to 1929. From 1924 he was also in charge of the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig. Graul developed the Leipzig Museum of Applied Arts into a museum of European standing, and his diverse activities had a lasting impact on the museum.

In 1920 he founded the Grassimesse, a sales fair independent of the Leipziger Messe . It took place in the museum at the same time as the spring and autumn fair. Graul initiated the construction of the New Grassi Museum , which took place from 1925 to 1929. As early as 1926, the house could be occupied depending on the progress of construction. In 1926, the Grassimesse took place in the wing on Hospitalstrasse (today Prager Strasse). Under Graul's leadership, it developed into an arts and crafts fair with high quality standards. He was able to attract international attention with the large special exhibition “European Applied Arts 1927” in the new museum building. It made the Grassi Museum known across Europe.

Graul was the founder of the magazine "Das Museum" (1886) and co-founder and temporary editor of the art magazine " Pan " (1894-1896). He was editor in 1898/1899 and from 1925 to 1931 editor of the "Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst".

Graul was a member of several museum committees, including the Berlin Art History Society, the German Werkbund and the Saxon State Office for Applied Arts in Dresden. He was also the founder and long-time chairman of the Society of Friends of the Leipzig Museum of Applied Arts.

Publications

  • Memorandum on the development of the arts and crafts museum and the need for a new museum building. Hedrich, Leipzig 1910.
  • Introduction to art history. Kröner, Leipzig 1887. (8th edition 1923.)
  • Picture atlas as an introduction to art history. Seemann, Leipzig 1907. (6th edition.)

literature

  • Announcements from the municipal museum for arts and crafts / Grassimuseum and its Freundes und Förderkreis e. V. , Issue 2, 1993, Eisel 2001.
  • Walther Killy, Rudolf Vierhaus: German Biographical Encyclopedia . Volume 4: Gies – Hessel. Saur, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-598-23164-4 .
  • Richard Graul on his 80th birthday. Directory of his writings. Dedicated in gratitude to its well-deserved founder and long-term chairman by the Society of Friends of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Leipzig on June 24, 1942. Städtisches Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Leipzig 1942.

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