Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder (literally Draftsmanship and Industrial Design School for Women but sometimes referred to as the Arts and Crafts School for Women) was a private Danish educational establishment in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. From 1875, it aimed to provide better facilities for women to develop competence in

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

s and

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

s at a time when they were unable to enter the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dan ...

. The school continued to operate until 1967 when it was merged with the Kunsthåndværkerskolen to form Skole for Brugskunst, later known as

Danmarks Designskole The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design, more commonly known as the Danish Design School ( Danish: ''Danmarks Designskole''. often abbreviated as DKDS) is an institution of higher education in Copenhagen, Denmark, offering a five-ye ...

. The school was from 1881 based at H. C. Andersens Boulevard 10. The building was designed in the

Historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...

style by

Vilhelm Klein Vilhelm Klein (6 March 1835 – 10 February 1913) was a Danish architect who adopted the Historicist approach, frequently emulating the so-called Rosenborg style and the Italian Renaissance style. Early life Born in Copenhagen, Denmark as the ...

. It was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1993. The building is now operated as a women's refuge by the

Danish Women's Society The Danish Women's Society or DWS ( da, Dansk Kvindesamfund) is Denmark's oldest women's rights organization. It was founded in 1871 by activist Matilde Bajer and her husband Fredrik Bajer; Fredrik was a Member of Parliament and the 1908 Nobel Pea ...

History

Discussion of the possibility of allowing women to study at the Royal Danish Academy began in the early 1870s following enquiries from the

. At the time, as women began to play an increasingly active role, it was realized that if they were to be professionally employed, there was a need for them to be trained in appropriate institutions. A proposal from Ferdinand Meldahl in 1873 to open the Academy to women, received a measure of support but it was not sufficient to provide for a women's department within the Academy. In 1875, the school was founded by the Danish Women's Society in rented premises in the Industrial Association Building. The objective was to "provide women with training in drawing and other skills and abilities that might prove useful to them when seeking employment in the service of industry". The school opened on 4 January 1876 with just six students. Tegneskolen for kvinder - Tegning og maling efter levende model

Tegneskolen for kvinder - Tegning og maling efter levende model

Charlotte Klein Charlotte Bolette Klein née Unna (1834–1915) was a Danish educator and women's rights activist. A motivated teacher, from the mid-1870s until 1907 she was the principal of the Arts and Crafts School for Women in Copenhagen. Klein was a member ...

, a member of the Women's Society, was a key figure in the school's creation and success. She became the school's first principal and a motivated teacher, initially working without a salary. Her husband,

, an architect who had founded the Craft School (Håndværkerskolen) in 1968, became chairman of the board. In 1877, the school became an independent institution with state and municipal support. The Women's Society continued nevertheless to have a representative on the Board. Vilhelm and Charlotte Klein managed the school until 1907. Vilhelm Klein was also charged with the design of a new school building in a prominent location on the city's new West Boulevard (now H. C. Andersens Boulevard). Construction began in 1880 and the building was inaugurated on 14 September 1881. Approximately 200 people attended the ceremony. "That women have the same talents as men, no one can deny" was the basis on which the architect Vilhem Klein designed the Tegneskole. From 1888, when an Art School for Women was opened at the Academy, students were admitted without further examinations if Tegneskolen provided a recommendation. Students from the school were acclaimed at exhibitions at home and abroad. At the 1989 Paris Exposition, the school was awarded a technical school medal. Those who studied at the school were employed by porcelain firms such as

Bing & Grøndahl Bing & Grøndahl was a Danish porcelain manufacturer founded in 1853 by the sculptor Frederik Vilhelm Grøndahl and merchant brothers Meyer Hermann Bing and Jacob Herman Bing. The trademark backstamp for Bing & Grøndahl (B&G) porcelains is the t ...

or in the areas of textiles, gold embroidery and weaving. In 1961, when men were admitted to the school, the name became Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen. After merging with the School of Decorative Art (Skolen for Brugskunst) in 1973, and a further merger with the School of Interior Design (Skolen for Boligindretning) in 1989 it became Danmarks Designskole.

Architecture

Tegneskolen for Kvinder - facade detail 08

Thebuilding is designed in the

style that dominated

Danish architecture Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

in the late 19th century. The windows on the three upper floors are flanked by Ionic

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s and the windows on the third floor are tipped by triangular pediments. Relief ornamentation are seen between the windows on all three floors. The relief ornamentation on the third floor frames the words "maleri" ("painting" and "skulptir" ("sculpture"). The facade is finished by a heavy cornice supported by corbels. The first name of the school, name "Tegneskolen for Kvinder", is written in relief lettering on a band below the cornice. Tegneskolen for Kvinder - rear side 06

A side wing extends from the rear side of the building. The two buildings are joined by a canted corner bay. The side wing forms the southern margin of a small courtyard shared with neighbouring Hotel Alexandra. The facade towards the yard stands in undressed brick and is dominated by large studio windows. The building was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1993.

The building today

The building is now operated as a women's refuge by the

. It was adapted for its current use by Over Byen Arkitekter in 2018. It contains 20 dwellings.

People associated with the school

Gudrun Stig Aagaard Gudrun Stig Aagaard (1895–1986) was a Danish textile artist who specialized in printed fabrics. She opened her own workshop in 1928, pioneering printed textile designs in Denmark. She initially produced classical patterns but later adopted a mor ...

(1895–1986), student *

Astrid Aagesen Astrid Marie-Frederike Aagesen (1883–1965) was a Danish-Swedish designer who crafted objects in many kinds of metals. From 1919 until 1937, she lived in Helsingborg, Sweden, where she made the globe for the city's monument to astronomer Tycho ...

(1883–1965), student *

Nanna Aakjær Nielsine Juliane (Nanna) Aakjær née Krog (1874–1962) was a Danish carpenter and woodcarver. She is remembered in particular for contributing to the design and interior decor of , the residence on the Salling Peninsula in northern Jutland whe ...

(1874–1962), student *

Franciska Clausen Franciska Clausen (7 January 1899 – 5 March 1986) was a Danish painter who was involved in the abstract art movement of the early twentieth century. Clausen studied at the Die Grossherzogliche sächsische Hochschule für bildende Kunst in Weim ...

(1899–1986), teacher *

Bertha Dorph Bertha Olga Vilhelmine Herlich Dorph née Green (4 June 1875 – 25 February 1960) was a Danish painter. Biography Born in Copenhagen, Dorph was privately educated under Harald Slott-Møller and Peter Ilsted in Copenhagen (1893–97) after whic ...

(1875–1960), Academy committee * Margrete Drejer (1889–1975), student *

Kirstine Frederiksen Elisabeth Kirstine Frederiksen (1845–1903) was a Danish pedagogue, writer and women's activist. Thanks to study trips to the United States, she was a pioneer of visual pedagogy in Denmark, publishing ''Anskuelsesundervisning, Haandbog for Lære ...

(1845–1903), board member *

Margrethe Hald Margrethe Hald (10 February1897 - 19 May 1982) was a Danish textile historian and curator at the National Museum of Denmark. A major contributor to international textile research, she received a D.Phil. in 1950 for her thesis ''Olddanske tekstiler' ...

(1897–1982), student * Inger Hanmann (1918–2007), student * Kristín Jónsdóttir (1888–1959), student * Hanne Kjærholm (1930–2009), student * Eva Koppel (1916–2006), student * Elinborg Lützen (1919–1995), student * Ernestine Nyrop (1888–1975), student *

Dagmar Olrik Dagmar Olrik (1860–1932) was a Danish painter and tapestry artist. She is remembered for her weaving and tapestry work, in particular for decorating a room in Copenhagen's City Hall with tapestries based on cartoons of Nordic mythology created ...

(1860–1932), student * Marie Sandholt (1872–1942), student * Ellen Trotzig (1878–1949), student *

Bertha Wegmann Bertha Wegmann (1847–1926) was a Danish portrait painter of German ancestry. She was the first woman to hold a chair at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Life When Bertha Wegmann was five years old, her family moved to Copenhagen, where her ...

(1847–1926), board member *

Ida Winckler Ida Anna Winkler (1907–1995) was a Danish painter and textile artist. In 1930, she joined the newly established ''Haandarbejdets Fremme'' (Danish Handcraft Guild), where over the next 65 years she created hundreds of mainly cross-stitch pattern ...

(1907–1995), student

Gallery

File:Tegneskolen for Kvinder - facade detail 04.jpg, Windows on the second and third floor File:Tegneskolen for Kvinder - facade detail 09.jpg, The two upper floors File: Tegneskolen for Kvinder - facade detail 06.jpg, Central window on the first floor File:Tegneskolen for Kvinder - facade detail 05.jpg, Central window on the second floor File:Tegneskolen for Kvinder - facade detail 11.jpg, The cornice

References

External links

{{Commons category, Tegneskolen for Kvinder
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Design schools Art schools in Copenhagen Women's education in Denmark Higher education in Copenhagen 1875 establishments in Denmark Educational institutions established in 1875 School buildings completed in 1881 Historicist architecture in Copenhagen Listed educational buildings in Copenhagen Vilhelm Klein buildings