{"id":533,"date":"2020-04-11T20:58:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-11T20:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/?p=533"},"modified":"2024-02-23T00:04:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T00:04:39","slug":"handwerker-und-kustgewerbeschule-zu-breslau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/handwerker-und-kustgewerbeschule-zu-breslau\/","title":{"rendered":"About Breslau\u2019s Arts and Crafts School"},"content":{"rendered":"

St\u00e4dtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau, the municipal arts & crafts school in the city of Breslau.<\/em><\/p>\n

The movement to establish state-funded vocational arts schools in Germany gained traction in the mid nineteenth century with the advent of international expositions and under the influence of British efforts to foster applied art. Many German cities, mostly in the west, founded their own arts and crafts schools. In the large eastern areas of the country, only a handful were initiated, with provincial capital Breslau home to two of them, the Staatliche Akademie f\u00fcr Kunst und Kunstgewerbe and the St\u00e4dtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule.<\/p>\n

Ismar David attended the latter, the Municipal Arts and Crafts School of Breslau from the fall of 1927 through the spring of 1928, at the end of his apprenticeship and before he left his hometown for Berlin. The school was still struggling to emerge from the massive trauma inflicted by the aftermath of the First World War and disastrous hyperinflation. Long time director and professor Richard Heyer had retired in 1925 after twenty-five years service and the relatively new administration faced dilapidated and woefully inadequate accommodations for just about everything. (In 1929, the student body would still derisively call their Mardi Gras festivities, \u201cFest der Hinterh\u00e4usler,\u201d<\/em> which might be roughly translated to Slum Dwellers Celebration.\u201d)1<\/a><\/sup> St\u00e4dtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau: Bericht 1926, 1927, 1928 der Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau, p. 8 <\/span> Under the new director, architect Gustav Wolf<\/a>, the school developed an extensive renovation plan that included support for a needy student population. In further recognition of the economic austerity of the era, the ethos of the school became \u201cto still make necessities enjoyable, but to net clear effects with low expenditure of power and materials. \u2026 Making expensive things for the refined tastes of a small circle of connoisseurs isn\u2019t paramount. Rather, we try to make useful things that most people need in their daily lives.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup> St\u00e4dtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau: Bericht 1926, 1927, 1928 der Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau, p. 8 <\/span><\/p>\n

As its name implies the school received significant support from city authorities, with Silesian professional organizations contributing financially as well as administratively. This leadership saw the institution\u2019s role as defending the cultural integrity of geographically isolated Silesia against absorption by a greater Germany and promoting Silesian arts and crafts, while offering the best possible training for the school\u2019s mostly Silesian student body. Work experience was a general prerequisite for students, and the faculty were all active professionals in their respective fields. The multi-disciplinary institution vigorously cultivated cooperation among the various disciplines it offered: interior construction; applied sculpture, painting and graphics; metal work; glass decoration; porcelain painting; ceramics; book arts; tailoring, dressmaking and theater set construction; with each department having its own workshop or extensive series of workshops. (The book arts department alone had workshops in lithography, photochemical plate-making, hand and mechanical typesetting, letterpress and copperplate printing and bookbinding.)<\/p>\n

All of Ismar David\u2019s classes, however, came under the heading of general instruction. According to his certificate-cum-report card, Ismar David attended classes for exactly 6 months, with a total of 47 hours of classes per week\u2014which accords with the normal schedule for a full-time attendee in a crafts school in those days (48 hours per week).3<\/a><\/sup> St\u00e4dtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau: Bericht 1926, 1927, 1928 der Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau, p. 4 <\/span> His choice of classes reflected his need to remediate his drawing skills: freehand drawing and representation (Hermann Holscher), nude model\/figurative drawing (Ludwig Peter Kowalski<\/a>), Freehand drawing (Georg Krause), drawing for commercial graphics (Gerhard Stein<\/a>), anatomic drawing (Holscher), calligraphy and letter drawing (Krause). He had 2 hours a week of art history (Siegfried Haertel) and 6 per week calculating charges (Krause) as well. His teachers all deemed his work \u201csufficient\u201d to \u201cgood\u201d and his conduct \u201cpraiseworthy.\u201d They affirmed his suitability for decorative painting. He was ready for his next step, the Municipal Arts and Crafts School Charlottenburg<\/a> in Berlin.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Handwerker-<\/a>
Certificate from the Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule zu Breslau.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MAIN INSTRUCTION<\/th>\nWeek-hours<\/th>\nGrade<\/th>\nEffort<\/th>\nTeacher<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Free drawing and representation<\/th>\n6<\/td>\nsufficient<\/td>\ngood<\/td>\nHolscher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
STUDIO INSTRUCTION<\/th>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nude model Figurative drawing<\/th>\n6<\/td>\nsufficient<\/td>\nVery good<\/td>\nKowalski<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SUPPLEMENTARY INSTRUCTION<\/th>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Calligraphy and letter drawing<\/th>\n6<\/td>\ngood<\/td>\ngood<\/td>\nG. Krause<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Calculating charges<\/th>\n6<\/td>\ngood<\/td>\nVery good<\/td>\nProf. Krause<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art history<\/th>\n2<\/td>\nWithout exam<\/td>\nVery good<\/td>\nProf. Haertel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Law and business administration<\/th>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Free drawing<\/th>\n12<\/td>\nSuffiently good<\/td>\ngood<\/td>\nProf. Krause<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic drawing<\/th>\n6<\/td>\nRather good<\/td>\ngood<\/td>\nStein<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Anatomic drawing<\/th>\n3<\/td>\ngood<\/td>\nVery good<\/td>\nHolscher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

General remarks about conduct, attendance and professional suitability:
\nConduct: commendable, regular attendance; suitability for decorative painting: good<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St\u00e4dtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule Breslau, the municipal arts & crafts school in the city of Breslau. The movement to establish state-funded vocational arts schools in Germany gained traction in the mid nineteenth century with the advent of international expositions and under the influence of British efforts to foster applied art. Many German cities, mostly in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4154,"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions\/4154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ismardavidarchive.org\/indexofnames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}