User:OberMegaTrans/ss2024/Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar/Translated

The Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts Weimar (German: Die Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar) was founded and financed as a private academy by Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar on April 1, 1908. The private academy was based on the initiative from a Belgian architect named Henry van de Velde, and it existed in Weimar until September 30th, 1915. The Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts Weimar is not to be confused with the former neighboring Grand Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar (German: Großherzoglich-Sächsischen Kunstschule Weimar), which was from 1910 the University of Fine Arts. After the end of the First World War, its legacy was absorbed into the State Bauhaus in Weimar (Bauhaus University, Weimar) in 1919. The associated building, the School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) building erected in 1906, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

1902–1908


On April 1, 1902, Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst appointed Henry van de Velde as his advisor with the aim of revitalizing the craft industry, which had been in a state of complete decline in the Saxony-Weimar region. In October of 1902 the hand craft seminar in the Preller House (German: Prellerhaus) next to the old building of the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School was founded. In 1904, van de Velde's two-year survey of the situation led him to realize that the goal he had set himself could only be achieved by improving training in the arts and crafts. To this end, he founded the Arts and Crafts Institute and designed the school building, now known as the Van de Velde building, which was erected between 1905 and 1906 and in which he began teaching in October of 1907 with 16 students.

1908–1915
On April 1, 1908, the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts Weimar was opened. Henry van de Velde, who received a contract of employment under the approved statutes of Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School on the same date, was put in charge of the private institution, which the Grand Duke financed throughout its existence. The institutional extension of the School of Arts and Crafts was completed in 1910. Henry Van de Velde remained principal of the academy until its closure in 1915. The Jewish artist Moissey Kogan also taught at the school for a short time.

The education in Arts and Crafts took four years. Additionally, the students had the opportunity to sit in on classes at the Art School.

1919–1925
Main article: Bauhaus

In April 1919, the architect Walter Gropius, with the support of the provisional government of the Free State of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, founded the State Bauhaus of Weimar (German: Staatliches Bauhaus zu Weimar) from the unification of the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts Weimar and the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, which in 1910 had even been elevated to the Grand-Ducal Saxon School for Fine Arts (German: Großherzoglich-Sächsische Hochschule für Bildende Kunst). The Bauhaus then took up its work in the two buildings of Henry Van de Velde: the former School of Arts and Crafts building and the one that had previously belonged to the Art School. On April 1, 1921, the State Academy for Fine Arts (German: Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Kunst) was disincorporated from the State Bauhaus for the professionals working in an academic-traditional manner. The first Bauhaus exhibition took place in 1923. In 1925, the Bauhaus was forced to relocate to Dessau due to political pressure from the right.

1926–1996
Main Article: Bauhaus University, Weimar

Under Otto Bartning (1883-1959), the existing Weimar institutions were merged in 1926 to form the State College of Crafts and Architecture (German: Staatliche Hochschule für Handwerk und Baukunst), known as the Bauhochschule (composed of the German word "Bau", meaning "construction", and "Hochschule", meaning "college") for short. It was reorganized as the State College of Architecture, Fine Arts, and Crafts (German: Staatliche Hochschulen für Baukunst, bildende Künste und Handwerk) in Weimar under the new director Paul Schultze-Naumburg (April 1, 1930), who was appointed by the National Socialists. Ten years later, under the direction of Gerd Offenberg (1897-1987), the College of Architecture and Fine Arts (German: Hochschule für Baukunst und bildende Künste) was established as a technical college. Hermann Henselmann (1905-1995) continued to run the university from 1945 to 1951. The suceeding University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (German: Hochschule für Architektur und Bauwesen) was extensively restructured after the political change in 1989 and has been known as the Bauhaus University, Weimar since May 17, 1996.

Famous students and lecturers

 * Gertrud Arper (1894 - 1968), interior and furniture designer
 * Christian Dell (1893-1974), silversmith, teacher of industrial design and master craftsman at the Weimar Bauhaus
 * Otto Dorfner (1885-1955), master bookbinder and cover designer
 * Agnes Pechuel-Lösche, painter and craftswoman
 * Thilo Schoder (1888-1979), architect
 * Alexander von Szpinger (1889-1969), visual artist
 * Max Thalmann (1890-1944), graphic artist, illustrator and book artist