At the Forefront of a Newly Emerging Profession? Ethnography, Education and the Exhibition of Women's Needlework in Austria-Hungary in the Late Nineteenth Century

Author: Houze, Rebecca

Source: Journal of Design History, Volume 21, Number 1, 2008 , pp. 19-40(22)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $44.11 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

The exhibition of women's needlework in Vienna at world's fairs and other venues coincided with the widespread reform of the decorative arts industries in Austria-Hungary in the late nineteenth century, which led to the establishment of the new Museums of Applied Art in both Vienna and Budapest, as well as to a host of museums and vocational craft schools throughout the lands of the Dual Monarchy. The aim of the regional craft schoolsto draw attention to and preserve the vital folk art of the Austrian peasantry, while simultaneously improving and regulating its production in the form of cottage industriesintersected with an effort to train and educate bourgeois and aristocratic ladies in the urban decorative arts schools. As Austria attempted to define its place as a leader in the applied arts industries, women's needlework took on a central role. Indeed, the preoccupation with feminine fabrication of the domestic sphere, and especially the production of traditional and dilettante needlework, among Austrian critics such as Rudolf von Eitelberger, Jacob von Falke and Alois Riegl, largely shaped the emerging profession of modern interior design at the turn of the twentieth century.

Keywords: collecting; decorative arts reform; embroidery; pattern books; Vienna World's Fair; women's magazines

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epm040

Publication date: 2008-01-01

More about this publication?

Journal of Design History is a leading journal in its field. It plays an active role in the development of design history (including the history of the crafts and applied arts), as well as contributing to the broader field of studies of visual and material culture. The journal includes a regular book reviews section and lists books received, and from time to time publishes special issues.

At the Forefront of a Newly Emerging Profession? Ethnography, Education and the Exhibition of Women's Needlework in Austria-Hungary in the Late Nineteenth Century

Buy & download fulltext article:

Tools

Key

Text size:

Useful pages