Studio: international art (35.1905)

The Craft Schools of Austria

Barye, at the same time that he was a great
sculptor, was also unquestionably a painter of
considerable power, as we may see by his two
lions before their cave.

Thomy-Thiery likewise bequeathed to the Louvre
works by Ziem and Vollon; but the former of these
two artists being still alive, and the latter having
only died very recently, their pictures must wait
for a time before figuring in the gallery. It is
customary to wait twenty-five years after the death
of an artist before allowing his works to enter the
Louvre, An exception seems to have been made
in the case of Meissonier (therefore why not
also in the case of Manet ?), who is represented in
the Thomy-Thiery collection by several cold and
precise compositions. There is, first, Les Ordo?i-
nances, a picture dated 1839, and then some
more spirited paintings—Le Poete, Les Buveurs
(from the Secretan collection), Les Liseurs and
the Joueur de Flule.

It is not among these, however, that the true
spirit of the Thomy-Thiery collection is to
be found, but rather by returning once more
to those Corots, Millets, Dupres, Troyons, Rous-
seaus, Daubignys, and all those pictures by
pre-eminent masters of whose works we never
tire, but love them the better for every fresh visit
to the Louvre.

Henri Frantz.

PLAQUE

HE CRAFT SCHOOLS OF AUS-
TRIA. BY A. S. LEVETUS.

DESIGNED BY A. REINISCH (TEPLITZ)

The schools with which this article deals
are the so-called “ Fachschulen,” scattered over
Austria and her Crowm lands, and having for their
purpose the training of good workmen in particular
branches of trade, and the application of art to
manufacture. Originally they were founded for
the purpose of reviving home industries, which
had almost become a lost art. Their later aim is to
create superior workmen, fully equipped both prac-
tically and scientifically, not only as far as regards
their own particular trade, but also branches
allied with it; in fact, to give them “ something of
everything and everything of something.” These
schools come under the category of “ secondary ”
schools; they stand midway between the elementary
schools on the one hand, and the “ Kunstgewerbe-
schulen,” or schools of applied art, and the Imperial
Academy, on the other hand. The Fachschulen
train workmen, the Academy and Kunstgewerbe-
schulen artists and teachers. But those attending
the Fachschulen and showing particular talent are,
after having passed through the courses there,
provided with stipends and sent to a Kunstge-
werbeschule at Vienna, Prague, or Lemberg, there
to receive the higher training necessary for becom-
ing artists or teachers. These “Fach” schools are,
as are all schools in Austria, under the
direction of the Ministerium fur Cultus
und Unterricht, special inspectors being
appointed for periodical inspection.
Each school is managed by a director,
who has under him a staff of professors
and assistants. The office of director
is no sinecure, for he must be a master
not only in theory, but also in practice.
There are about a hundred and fifty
Fachschulen belonging to the State,
and seventy which receive State aid.
They are situated in all parts of the
Austrian dominions, not only in towns
but in remote places in the mountain
regions.

As certain trades and home industries
have from times immemorial been con-
fined to certain districts, great care has
always been taken when planting
schools that the teaching shall con-
form to that particular industry ; not,
however, to the exclusion of other trades,
for in many cases new ones have been
introduced. Hence the schools are

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