Author: Cordileone, Diana Reynolds

Source: Austrian Studies, Volume 16, Number 1, 1 December 2008 , pp. 123-141(19)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

Abstract:

Founded in 1863, the Austrian Museum for Art and Industry was the first institution on the continent to implement the principles of design reform originating from London's South Kensington Museum. This article analyses the debates that emerged in the 1870s between curators at the Museum and German theorists regarding historicism in arts and crafts reform. The nationalist fervour associated with the northern German Neo-Renaissance in the Wilhelmine Empire prompted Viennese theorists to search for ways of creating a similar patriotic focus for the many nationalities within Cisleithania. The models they promoted included the Italian Renaissance, folk arts and the Austrian Biedermeier.

German
Das Österreichische Museum für Kunst und Industrie, gegründet 1863, war das erste Institut seiner Art auf dem europäischen Festland, das die Prinzipien des Kunsthandwerks implementierte, wie sie am Londoner South Kensington Museum formuliert worden waren. Dieser Artikel analysiert die in den 1870er zwischen den Kuratoren am Museum und deutschen Theoretikern ausgebrochene Debatte über die Rolle des Historizismus in der Reform des Kunsthandwerks. Die nationalistische Leidenschaftlichkeit, mit der die norddeutsche Neo-Renaissance im Wilhelminischen Reich gepflegt wurde, trieb die Wiener Theoretiker dazu an, einen ähnlich patriotischen Ansatz für die verschiedenen Nationalitäten Cisleithaniens zu finden. Sie lehnten sich dabei an die italienische Renaissance, die sogenannte `Volkskunst' und den österreichischen Biedermeier an.

Keywords: Austrian Museum for Art and Industry; design reform; South Kensington Museum; historicism; arts and crafts; Neo-Renaissance; Italian Renaissance; folk arts; Biedermeier; Österreichische Museum für Kunst und Industrie; Kunsthandwerks; South Kensington Museum; Historizismus; Neo-Renaissance; italienische Renaissance; Volkskunst; Biedermeier

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Point Loma Nazarene University

Publication date: 2008-12-01

More about this publication?

• Austrian Studies is an annual journal reflecting sustained interest in the distinctive cultural traditions of the Habsburg Empire and the Austrian Republic. By publishing a wide range of articles in English, together with a selection of book reviews, it aims to make recent research accessible to a broadly based international readership.
  
  The focus is on Austrian culture from 1750 to the present. Literature is considered in relation to psychology, philosophy, political theory, music, theatre, film, and the visual arts. 'Austrian' includes German-language culture of former areas of the Habsburg Empire, such as Prague and the Bukovina, as well as the work of people of Austrian origin living abroad. Austrian interactions with other linguistic and ethnic groups -- the Jewish communities of Austria-Hungary, for example -- are also taken into account.
  
  Each volume of Austrian Studies has a coherent but broadly conceived theme, and reviews of the most important recent publications in the field of Austrian studies. Each volume also includes a number of substantial review essays devoted either to keeping readers up to date with major cultural debates and events, or to areas of scholarship in which activity has been particularly intense.

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