The Dürerbund (named after

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

) was an organization of writers and artists with a strong influence on the intellectual life of the

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

in the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

, but also in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The Dürerbund was founded in 1902 by the German publisher

Ferdinand Avenarius Ferdinand Avenarius (20 December 1856, in Berlin – 22 September 1923, in Kampen) was a German lyric poet, a leading representative of the culture reform movement of his time and the first popularizer of Sylt. Life Avenarius was born in Berlin. ...

, a brother of the philosopher

Richard Avenarius Richard Ludwig Heinrich Avenarius (19 November 1843 – 18 August 1896) was a German-Swiss philosopher. He formulated the radical positivist doctrine of "empirical criticism" or empirio-criticism. Life Avenarius attended the Nicolaischule in L ...

, and the art historian Paul Schumann. It resided in Dresden-Blasewitz and had close connections to

Deutscher Werkbund The Deutscher Werkbund (English: "German Association of Craftsmen"; ) is a German association of artists, architects, designers and industrialists established in 1907. The Werkbund became an important element in the development of modern arch ...

and the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

, as Avenarius was a key person in these organizations too. The Dürerbund was not only the leading cultural organization in Germany that time, moreover it aimed at contributing to aesthetic education and education to love of nature of the broad masses. For many years, it was organized like a reading circle in which publications as ''Der Kunstwart'', a magazine initiated and edited by Avenarius, could be distributed effectively.Bibliography of Avenarius
in the

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...

Among the many widely known authors were

Hermann Bahr Hermann Anastas Bahr (; 19 July 1863 – 15 January 1934) was an Austrian writer, playwright, director, and critic. Biography Born and raised in Linz, Bahr studied in Vienna, Graz, Czernowitz and Berlin, devoting special attention to philosophy, ...

Christian Morgenstern Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin ...

Peter Rosegger Peter Rosegger (original ''Roßegger'') (31 July 1843 – 26 June 1918) was an Austrian writer and poet from Krieglach in the province of Styria. He was a son of a mountain farmer and grew up in the woodlands and mountains of Alpl. Rosegger (or R ...

Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. Simmel was influential in the field of sociology. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach l ...

, and

Carl Spitteler Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler (24 April 1845 – 29 December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919 "in special appreciation of his epic, ''Olympian Spring''". His work includes both pessimistic and hero ...

. Renowned personalities participated in the management board of the association, among them

Adolf Bartels __NOTOC__ Adolf Bartels (15 November 1862 – 7 March 1945) was a pastor, German journalist and poet. Known for his '' völkisch'' worldview, he has been seen as a harbinger of Nazi anti-Semitism.Roderick Stackelberg, "Bartels, Adolf", in ''Antis ...

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach Countess Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach ( cs, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbachová, german: link=no, Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach; 13 September 183012 March 1916) was an Austrian writer. Noted for her psychological novels, she is regarded as one of t ...

Karl Lamprecht Karl Gotthard Lamprecht (25 February 1856 – 10 May 1915) was a German historian who specialized in German art and economic history. Biography Lamprecht was born in Jessen in the Province of Saxony. As a student, he trained in history, politic ...

Friedrich Naumann Friedrich Naumann (25 March 1860 – 24 August 1919) was a German Liberalism in Germany, liberal politician and Protestant parish pastor. In 1896, he founded the National-Social Association that sought to combine liberalism, nationalism and ...

, and

Henry Thode Henry Thode (13 January 1857 – 19 November 1920) was a German art historian. He was born in Dresden and died in Copenhagen. Biography He was an art historian at the time of the Weimar republic. He wrote against the prevailing ideas of the tim ...

. Key dates of the Dürerbund: * 1902 Establishment of the Dürerbund in Dresden * 1910 Erection of the Dürerbundhaus in Dresden-Blasewitz * 1912 Dürerbund had 300,000 members * 1914 Establishment of the ''Dürerbund-Werkbund-Genossenschaft'' in

Hellerau Hellerau is a northern quarter ''(Stadtteil)'' in the city of Dresden, Germany, slightly south of Dresden Airport. It was the first garden city in Germany. The northern section of Hellerau absorbed the village of Klotzsche, where some 18th cent ...

, which published the ''Deutsche Warenbuch'' evaluating industrial products for the consumers * 1923 Avenarius died, Paul Schumann und Wolfgang Schumann took leadership * 1935 Dürerbund closed, the painter Karl Hanusch was the last head

References

External links

Dürerbund in Dresden

References

External links

Further reading