DOI issue:
DIVISION II: Germany
DOI article:Deubner, Ludwig: German architecture and decoration: "Der deutsche Werkbund"
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37422#0175
GERMAN ARCHITECTURE AND DE-
CORATION. (“Der Deutsche Werkbund.”)
By L. Deubner.
AMID the din and clamour of the day and the clash of con-
flicting opinions the voice of the individual oannot make
itself heard. Common interests, to have any chance of
success, must be promoted by common action, and side by side
with the various social federations, the organizations of workmen and
“ cartels ” of employers, the middle-class associations and peasant
unions, which in the political sphere seek to defend and advance
their respective causes, there are numerous associations or unions of
those belonging to a particular profession or calling which pursue the
same object. From all such confederations the German Craft Union
(Der Deutsche Werkbund) differs in one very essential point, for it
does not safeguard the personal interests of its members but seeks to
render service to the community at large in championing certain ideals.
“The object or purpose of the Union is the ennoblement of
industrial labour in the co-operation of art, industry and handicraft,
by means of education, propaganda and concerted action on relevant
questions.” In these few words the aim of the Union is set forth in
its articles, and at the same time the ways by which it is sought to
attain it, the history of the new movement in German industrial art
or Kunstgewerbe having made it abundantly clear that the impetus
of the movement was being seriously checked by the lack of con-
centrated effort in the struggle with the great mass of producers and
manufacturers. The real stimulus to the formation of the Werk-
bund, however, is to be traced to the repeated denunciations and
public attacks by which the “ Fachverband zur Wahrung der
wirtschaftlichen Interessen im Kunstgewerbe ”—an association of
traders for the safeguarding of their business interests in industrial
art—endeavoured to silence the dauntless and energetic promoter of
the modern tendencies, Regierungsrat Hermann Muthesius. Now
though they proved unsuccessful in their efforts to stifle this eminent
architect, who in his capacity of Adviser to the Department of
Education in Prussia has done an immense amount for the reorgani-
zation of those educational institutions in Germany which are con-
cerned with industrial art, and as one of the most important leaders
in the new movement has earned the greatest praise, still these
attacks demonstrated how necessary it was to call into existence an
association which, when occasion demanded, should be able to
express its conviction as an influential organization on the questions
and conflicts arising from time to time.
157
CORATION. (“Der Deutsche Werkbund.”)
By L. Deubner.
AMID the din and clamour of the day and the clash of con-
flicting opinions the voice of the individual oannot make
itself heard. Common interests, to have any chance of
success, must be promoted by common action, and side by side
with the various social federations, the organizations of workmen and
“ cartels ” of employers, the middle-class associations and peasant
unions, which in the political sphere seek to defend and advance
their respective causes, there are numerous associations or unions of
those belonging to a particular profession or calling which pursue the
same object. From all such confederations the German Craft Union
(Der Deutsche Werkbund) differs in one very essential point, for it
does not safeguard the personal interests of its members but seeks to
render service to the community at large in championing certain ideals.
“The object or purpose of the Union is the ennoblement of
industrial labour in the co-operation of art, industry and handicraft,
by means of education, propaganda and concerted action on relevant
questions.” In these few words the aim of the Union is set forth in
its articles, and at the same time the ways by which it is sought to
attain it, the history of the new movement in German industrial art
or Kunstgewerbe having made it abundantly clear that the impetus
of the movement was being seriously checked by the lack of con-
centrated effort in the struggle with the great mass of producers and
manufacturers. The real stimulus to the formation of the Werk-
bund, however, is to be traced to the repeated denunciations and
public attacks by which the “ Fachverband zur Wahrung der
wirtschaftlichen Interessen im Kunstgewerbe ”—an association of
traders for the safeguarding of their business interests in industrial
art—endeavoured to silence the dauntless and energetic promoter of
the modern tendencies, Regierungsrat Hermann Muthesius. Now
though they proved unsuccessful in their efforts to stifle this eminent
architect, who in his capacity of Adviser to the Department of
Education in Prussia has done an immense amount for the reorgani-
zation of those educational institutions in Germany which are con-
cerned with industrial art, and as one of the most important leaders
in the new movement has earned the greatest praise, still these
attacks demonstrated how necessary it was to call into existence an
association which, when occasion demanded, should be able to
express its conviction as an influential organization on the questions
and conflicts arising from time to time.
157