DOI Artikel:
Muthesius, Stefan: Old English, altdeutsch: some nineteenth-century appropriations of a "homely" past
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14574#0286
14. "Diirers Arbeitszimmer" in the Durerhaus, Nuremberg, fitted out in the 1870s, mainly by the painter
Friedrich Wanderer, with the help of pièces of antique furniture and fittings according to Diirers sketches
(the "Liisterweibchen" light fitting hanging from the ceiling). Photo probably late 19th century.
Beauty and pretended authenticity (W. Waetzoldt, Diirer und seine Zeit, Koln 1953)
itself very straightforwardly in a rapid increase of the sheer volume and worth of décor. But this would not
suffice to many; there also had to be something more spécifie to this expression of the newly found confidence,
something that signified a combination of both Germanness and the new vigour. Explanations at this point
can lead directly into the depths of Germany's overwhelming historical problems, the German hubris, or, to
use the post WWII historians' term, the Deutsche Sonderweg. The présent account wants to stay strictly with
design issues, but some pointers towards the longer-term political évaluations of design will corne at the end.
The key to the thinking was, naturally, the "national". One has to bear in mind that the demands for
a unified German nation were rampant sińce the early décades of the century, when the German speaking
territories were split apart more than ever before. At the same time just about everybody was aware that the
German states were behind the big West-European nations in terms of industrialisation as well as in constitutio-
nal issues. In 1870-1871 all problems seemed to be solved. A décisive victory of the old adversary, France,
a new and united Deutsches Reich (the "Second") - though without Austria, with the mighty Prussian king
as the German Emperor in Berlin at the helm, in a capital city, something which the Germans never had had
before, and an économie boom in all parts of the country.
The New had to be accompanied by a vigorous study of the Old. Historical studies in Germany had
been famous for some time; now they were instrumentalised: German successes of the présent were projected
backwards and the famé of the past was linked up again with the présent. What had been so far the whimsical
concern of the antiquarians and those romantically immersing themselves into a distant legendary past, now
showed itself with mighty splendour, in paintings, frescoes, illustrated books, sculptures on a grandiose
public scale, pageants and more. "Altdeutsch" now could corne to the fore, but it had been considerably
transformed and expanded in the process38. Designers, too, had to search for the exact, "characteristic" style,
s Cf. T. N i p p e r d e y, Deutsche Geschichte 1866-1918, Vol. I. Berlin 1994. pp. 638ff.
Friedrich Wanderer, with the help of pièces of antique furniture and fittings according to Diirers sketches
(the "Liisterweibchen" light fitting hanging from the ceiling). Photo probably late 19th century.
Beauty and pretended authenticity (W. Waetzoldt, Diirer und seine Zeit, Koln 1953)
itself very straightforwardly in a rapid increase of the sheer volume and worth of décor. But this would not
suffice to many; there also had to be something more spécifie to this expression of the newly found confidence,
something that signified a combination of both Germanness and the new vigour. Explanations at this point
can lead directly into the depths of Germany's overwhelming historical problems, the German hubris, or, to
use the post WWII historians' term, the Deutsche Sonderweg. The présent account wants to stay strictly with
design issues, but some pointers towards the longer-term political évaluations of design will corne at the end.
The key to the thinking was, naturally, the "national". One has to bear in mind that the demands for
a unified German nation were rampant sińce the early décades of the century, when the German speaking
territories were split apart more than ever before. At the same time just about everybody was aware that the
German states were behind the big West-European nations in terms of industrialisation as well as in constitutio-
nal issues. In 1870-1871 all problems seemed to be solved. A décisive victory of the old adversary, France,
a new and united Deutsches Reich (the "Second") - though without Austria, with the mighty Prussian king
as the German Emperor in Berlin at the helm, in a capital city, something which the Germans never had had
before, and an économie boom in all parts of the country.
The New had to be accompanied by a vigorous study of the Old. Historical studies in Germany had
been famous for some time; now they were instrumentalised: German successes of the présent were projected
backwards and the famé of the past was linked up again with the présent. What had been so far the whimsical
concern of the antiquarians and those romantically immersing themselves into a distant legendary past, now
showed itself with mighty splendour, in paintings, frescoes, illustrated books, sculptures on a grandiose
public scale, pageants and more. "Altdeutsch" now could corne to the fore, but it had been considerably
transformed and expanded in the process38. Designers, too, had to search for the exact, "characteristic" style,
s Cf. T. N i p p e r d e y, Deutsche Geschichte 1866-1918, Vol. I. Berlin 1994. pp. 638ff.