2.7 Artistic schools in Wrocław The Wrocław artistic schools played a key role in the preparation of new generations of architects who would be able to face the problems of the late 20s at times of a huge housing crisis. From the beginning of the 20th century in Wrocław there were two applied arts schools: the Municipal School of Arts and Crafts22, opened in 1900, and the National Academy of Arts and Crafts23 which, after a hundred years of existence, then began to change its direction. The Municipal School of Arts and Crafts had substantial influence on progress: especially in the arts. However this was not exercised in the same way at the Academy of Arts and Crafts24. After Hans Poelzig 25 took over the Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1903, its
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”golden era” began. Poelzig started a reform which was continued by subsequent headmasters – from 1918 by August Endel and from 1935 by Oskar Moll – up to April 1st 1932 when the school was closed as part of the cost-cutting project of Brüning's government. Poelzig was an advocate of the ”synthesis of the arts” (”Gesamtkunstwerk”) which was the outcome of cooperation between artists from different artistic fields whose common sphere was architecture 26. August Endell was very much an experienced artist and knew how to select professors for the Academy27. During Oscar Moll's term of office the Academy went through its peak of development 28. At the turn of the 1920s, the schools of arts and crafts started preparing students for direct cooperation with industry to design products for mass production. In the mid-twenties all the work of the professors and students
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of the Academy was influenced by Bauhaus functionalism. WuWA was built at the height of the Academies’ activities which became a meeting place for people with different artistic views; from expressionists, exponents of ”New Objectivism”29, to advocates of the constructivist avant-garde. The Academy created perfect conditions for the growth of free-thinking modern artists and the unrestricted growth and development of students was encouraged. As a result, young architects were well-prepared for the duties given to them in 1929 within the Werkbund exhibition in Wrocław.
20 WuWA
2. Wrocław artistic community and situation in Germany
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Maria STARZEWSKA, Zarys rozwoju śląskiego szkolnictwa w zakresie rzemiosł artystycznych. In: Roczniki Sztuki Śląskiej, ed. Piotra Łukaszewicza, vol. 15, 1991, p. 20. In 1900, a special Crafts School was founded (Handwerkerschule). In 1903 it was renamed as Municipal School of Arts and Crafts (Städtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbe Schule) and it was managed by Dr Richard Heyer until 1927. After that, its headmaster was Gustav Wolf: co-originator of the WuWA exhibition. The main goal of this school was to prepare craftspeople-artists for autonomous work, while the Academy of Arts and Crafts concentrated on the design process, rather than the craft itself. Staatlichen Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Prior to 1911 was a school by Royal appointment – Königliche Schule. Piotr ŁUKASZEWICZ, Osiągnięcia wrocławskiej Akademii Sztuki w zakresie form użytkowych. In: Ten wspaniały wrocławski modernizm. Post-conference material from the Commission for Architechture and Urban Development of the Wrocław Division of PAN, ed. Olgierd Czerner, Edmund Małachowicz, Stanisław Lose, Wrocław 1991, Wrocław 1998, p. 32. Janusz DOBESZ, Hans Poelzig i wrocławska Akademia Sztuki. ibid, p. 14. cf. idem, Bauhaus z wrocławskiej perspektywy, ”Sztuka”, no. 4, 1989, p. 34–37.