The Arbeitsrat für Kunst (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: 'Workers council for art' or 'Art Soviet') was a union of architects, painters, sculptors and art writers, who were based in Berlin from 1918 to 1921. It developed as a response to the Workers and Soldiers councils and was dedicated to the goal of bringing the current developments and tendencies in architecture and art to a broader population. The Arbeitsrat worked closely with the

Novembergruppe The November Group (german: Novembergruppe) was a group of German expressionist artists and architects. Formed on 3 December 1918, they took their name from the month of the German Revolution. The group was led by Max Pechstein and César Klein. ...

and the

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 ...

. Some of the architects represented in the Arbeitsrat united in the Glass Chain, or joined the correspondence group, Der Ring. Many members were important founders of the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2 ...

. Individual members informed the most important German academy of art of the time, the Staatliche Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Breslau, as well as the Bauhaus.

Aims

Their demands were: the acknowledgment of all tasks of building as public and not private tasks, the abolition of all official privileges, the establishment of community centers as places to exchange art and ideas, the dissolution of the Academy of the arts and the

Prussian national art commission Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

, the release of architectural, plastics, painting and handicraft commissions from national patronage, the promotion of museums as education places, the removal of artistically worthless monuments and the formation of a state body to oversee and promote education in the arts. The Arbeitsrat reacted to the unpalatable situation concerning orders for young architects, who were lost in the

First world war World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

Members

The founding members were

Bruno Taut Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is kno ...

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

acting from 1919, César Klein, and Adolf Behne as Chairman. The signatories of the first manifesto were - besides Taut, Gropius, Klein and Behne: * Otto Bartning * Rudolf Belling * Arthur Degner *

Lyonel Feininger Lyonel Charles Feininger (July 17, 1871January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City, traveling to Ge ...

Otto Freundlich Otto Freundlich (10 July 1878 – 9 March 1943) was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish origin. A part of the first generation of abstract painters in Western art, Freundlich was a great admirer of cubism. Life Freundlich was born in ...

Yefim Golïshev Yefim Golyshev ( uk, Юхим Голишев), variously transliterated as ''Golyscheff'', ''Golyschev'', ''Golishiff'', ''Golishev'', etc., 8 September 1897 – 25 September 1970) was a Ukrainian-born painter and composer who was mainly active in ...

August Griesbach August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo (astrology), Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin ...

* Hermann Hasler * Erwin Hahs *

Erich Heckel Erich Heckel (31 July 1883 – 27 January 1970) was a German painter and printmaker, and a founding member of the group ''Die Brücke'' ("The Bridge") which existed 1905–1913. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olym ...

* Paul Rudolf Henning * Karl Jakob Hirsch * Walter Kaesbach *

Georg Kolbe Georg Kolbe (15 April 1877 – 20 November 1947) was a German sculptor. He was the leading German figure sculptor of his generation, in a vigorous, modern, simplified classical style similar to Aristide Maillol of France. Early life and educa ...

Gerhard Marcks Gerhard Marcks (18 February 1889 – 13 November 1981) was a German artist, known primarily as a sculptor, but who is also known for his drawings, woodcuts, lithographs and ceramics. Early life Marcks was born in Berlin, where, at the age of 18, ...

Ludwig Meidner Ludwig Meidner (18 April 1884 – 14 May 1966) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker born in Bernstadt, Silesia. Meidner is best known for his painted, drawn, and printed portraits and landscapes, but is especially noted for ...

* Moritz Melzer * Otto Mueller *

Franz Mutzenbecher Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the ...

Max Pechstein Hermann Max Pechstein (31 December 1881 – 29 June 1955) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and a member of the Die Brücke group. He fought on the Western Front during World War I and his art was classified as Degenerate ...

Friedrich Perzynski Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

* Heinrich Richter-Berlin *

Richard Scheibe Richard Scheibe (19 April 1879, Chemnitz – 6 October 1964, Berlin) was a German artist primarily remembered as a sculptor. He trained as a painter, and taught himself to sculpt beginning in 1906. From 1925-1933 he taught at the Städelsches ...

* Karl Schmidt-Rottluff *

Fritz Stuckenberg Fritz Stuckenberg (16 August 1881, Munich – 18 May 1944, Füssen) was a German expressionist painter. Biography He was born Friedrich Bernhard Stuckenberg in Munich, but moved with his family in 1893 to the northern industrial city of Delmenh ...

* Georg Tappert *

Max Taut Max Taut (15 May 1884 – 26 February 1967) was a German architect of Prussian Lithuanian heritage. Biography Max Taut was born in Königsberg, the younger brother of Bruno Taut. He, his brother and Franz Hoffman formed Taut & Hoffman, an arc ...

Arnold Topp Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Un ...

Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner William Reinhold Valentiner (May 2, 1880 – September 6, 1958) was a German-American art historian, art critic and museum administrator. He was educated and trained in Europe, first working at the Mauritshuis in The Hague and at museums in Berlin. ...

Over 100 artists and architects from Germany and abroad, supported the group and were participants in its exhibitions. Some of these were: *

Karl Paul Andrae Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

* Walter Curt Behrendt * Max Berg *

Paul Cassirer Paul Cassirer (21 February 1871, in Görlitz – 7 January 1926, in Berlin) was a German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work of artists of the Berlin Secession and of French Impressionists and Post-Im ...

* Nicolay Diulgheroff * Hermann Finsterlin * Paul Gösch *

Otto Gothe Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...

Wenzel Hablik Wenzel August Hablik, also known as Wenceslav Hablik and Wilhelm August Hablik (4 August 1881 – 23 March 1934), was a painter, graphic artist, architect, designer, and craftsman of the early twentieth century, associated with German Expressio ...

Oswald Herzog Oswald may refer to: People *Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbur ...

Bernhard Hoetger Bernhard Hoetger (4 May 1874 in Dortmund – 18 July 1949 in Interlaken) was a German sculptor, painter and handicrafts artist of the Expressionist movement. Life Hoetger was the son of a Dortmund blacksmith, he studied sculpture in Detmold fro ...

* Willy Jaeckel *

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born as Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and '' ...

* Carl Krayl *

Mechtilde Lichnowsky Princess Mechtilde Lichnowsky, originally Mechtilde Christiane Marie ''Gräfin von und zu'' Arco-Zinneberg, later Mechtilde Peto (8 March 1879, in Schloss Schönburg, Pocking now in the Kreis Passau – 4 June 1958, in London) was a German au ...

* Hans * Wassili Luckhardt *

Paul Mebes Paul Louis Adolf Mebes (23 January 1872 – 9 April 1938) was a German architect, architectural theorist and university professor. Life Paul Mebes was born on 23 January 1872 in Magdeburg. He completed practical training as a carpenter and then s ...

Julius Meier-Graefe , ro, Reșița), Resicabánya Dist., Krassó-Szörény Co, Bánság, Royal Hungary, Imperial and Royal Austria(now Romania) , death_date = , death_place = Vevey, VD, Switzerland , nationality = German, Hungarian German ...

* Adolf Meyer *

Michael Mejer Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

Erich Mendelsohn Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinemas. Mendelso ...

Johannes Molzahn Johannes Molzahn (Duisburg, 21 May 1892–Munich, 31 December 1965) was a German artist. Biography Johannes Ernst Ludwig Molzahn was born 21 May 1892 in Duisburg. He learned drawing and photography, but later concentrated on painting. 1908-1914 he ...

Karl Ernst Osthaus Karl Ernst Osthaus (15 April 1874, in Hagen – 25 March 1921, in Merano) was an important German patron of avant-garde art and architecture. Life Osthaus was born to a wealthy banking family, who also owned several businesses in the textile ...

Hans Poelzig Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer. Life Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncert ...

* Paul Schmitthenner *

Herman Sörgel Herman Sörgel (2 April 1885 – 25 December 1952) was a German architect from Bavaria. He was known for pioneering the Atlantropa project, which was initially conceived as a solution to the economic and political turmoil gripping Europe in the e ...

* Milly Steger *

Heinrich Tessenow Heinrich Tessenow (7 April 1876 – 1 November 1950) was a German architect, professor, and urban planner active in the Weimar era. Biography Tessenow is considered together with Hans Poelzig, Bruno Taut, Peter Behrens, Fritz Höger, Erns ...

Wilhelm Worringer Wilhelm Robert Worringer (13 January 1881 in Aachen – 29 March 1965 in Munich) was a German art historian known for his theories about abstract art and its relation to avant-garde movements such as German Expressionism. Through his influence o ...

Actions

The Arbeitsrat recruited the public to participate in its art and architectural exhibitions and publications. Its exhibitions were open for non-architects and also for non-members of the group to take part, with designs, models, sketches and sculptures.

Exhibitions

* "Ausstellung für unbekannte Architekten",(Exhibition for unknown architects ) Berlin und Weimar, 1919 * "Neues Bauen" (New building), Berlin, 1920

Publications

* Bruno Taut: ''Ein Architektur-Programm''. (An architectural programme) Berlin 1918 * Paul Rudolf Henning: ''Ton. Ein Aufruf von P. R. Henning. Zweite Flugschrift des Arbeitsrats für Kunst'' (''Clay/tone/sound. A call by P.R. Henning. Second Pamphlet of the work advice for art '' ). Berlin ca. 1918 * Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Hrsg.): ''Arbeitsrat für Kunst. Flugblatt'' (''Arbeitsrat für Kunst. Leaflet''). Envelope with woodcut by

, Berlin 1919 * Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Hrsg.): ''Ja! Stimmen des Arbeitsrates für Kunst in Berlin'' (Yes! Voices of the Art Society in Berlin). Berlin 1919 * Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Hrsg.): ''Ruf zum Bauen: zweite Buchpublikation des Arbeiterrats für Kunst'' (''Call for building: Second book publication of the Arbeitsrats für Kunst''). Berlin 1920 * Otto Bartning: ''Ein Unterrichtsplan für Architektur und bildende Künste'' (''An instruction plan for architecture and the visual arts'')

Notes

References

* Karl Ernst Osthaus: ''Reden und Schriften. Folkwang – Werkbund – Arbeitsrat''. König, Köln 2002. * Regine Prange: ''Architekturphantasie ohne Architektur? Der Arbeitsrat für Kunst und seine Ausstellungen'', in: Thorsten Scheer, Josef Paul Kleihues, Paul Kahlfeldt (Hrsg.): ''Bauen in Berlin: 1900–2000. Stadt der Architektur. Architektur der Stadt 1900–2000.'' Nicolai, Berlin 2000. * Manfred Schlösser: ''Arbeitsrat für Kunst: Berlin 1918–1921.'' Akademie der Künste, Berlin 1980. * Eberhard Steneberg: ''Arbeitsrat für Kunst. Berlin 1918–1921.'' Marzona, Düsseldorf 1987.

External links

Katrin Husmann: Der Arbeitsrat für Kunst

* This page was translated from the German Wikipedia at:- :de:Arbeitsrat für Kunst. {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbeitsrat fur Kunst Expressionist architecture Architecture groups Culture in Berlin 1910s in Berlin 1920s in Berlin 1918 establishments in Germany 1921 disestablishments in Germany