A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts And
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AN ART OF THEIR OWN REINVENTING FRAUENKUNST IN THE FEMALE ACADEMIES AND ARTIST LEAGUES OF LATE-IMPERIAL AND FIRST REPUBLIC AUSTRIA, 1900-1930 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Megan Marie Brandow-Faller, B.A./M.A. Washington, D.C. April 2010 Copyright 2010 by Megan Marie Brandow-Faller All Rights Reserved ii AN ART OF THEIR OWN REINVENTING FRAUENKUNST IN THE FEMALE ACADEMIES AND ARTIST LEAGUES OF LATE-IMPERIAL AND FIRST REPUBLIC AUSTRIA, 1900-1930 Megan Marie Brandow-Faller, M.A. Thesis Advisor: James P. Shedel, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Focusing on the institutionalization of women’s art education, this dissertation traces the development of the concept of Frauenkunst, (women’s art) originally connoting substandard, amateurish works intended as distraction rather than vocation, as well as certain lower genres (flower-painting, still-life, etc) associated with slavish reproduction rather than creative innovation, in Austrian artistic-educational systems circa 1900-1930. The originally-private, later state-subsidized Viennese Women’s Academy, which gained official institutional parity with Austria’s premier state academies of fine and applied arts, assumes particular significance for the question of a distinct “women’s art.” Originally founded by a private-league, the Women’s Academy gradually became integrated in late-Imperial Austria’s mainstream institutional framework: gaining rights of public incorporation in 1908, increased levels of state- funding and employment of key personnel, and the privilege of issuing degrees equal to the Austrian Academy of Fine Arts. Both undercutting and reinforcing the existence of a gendered aesthetic, Austria’s single-sex academy and artists leagues brought the concept of Frauenkunst full circle: reinventing the stereotypes against which women artists had traditionally struggled. The Viennese Women’s Academy represented a unique case in point of institutional equality of difference. While similar institutions in Central Europe closed iii after women were integrated into the mainstream state academies, the Viennese Women’s Academy experienced a renaissance just as Austria’s state Academy began accepting female students in 1919/20. Preceding women’s admission to the Academy, the state equipped the Women’s Academy with Courses in Academic Painting and Sculpture granted official institutional parity with the state Academy and extended government contracts to core-faculty. This sense of institutional equality of difference, pitted on the distinct pedagogical needs of female art-students, justified the Women’s Academy’s continued existence after women’s admission to the state Academy. Austria’s Women’s Academy occupied a liminal space between state-affiliated and league-school, the fine and applied arts, and public and private institution. iv TO ADAM v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A great many groups, institutions, and individuals have played important roles in supporting my research on women’s art institutions in late Imperial and First Republic Austria and in the writing of this dissertation, from conception to completion. Foremost among these groups, I wish to thank the History Department at Georgetown University for its constant encouragement of and interest in my work. In particular, I am indebted to the Graduate Studies Committee for its generous financial support of the research that went into this dissertation and for the chance to teach an undergraduate seminar related to the theoretical questions on European women artists I faced in writing this dissertation. I have found excellent professional role models in many of the professors with whom I have had the pleasure working during my time at Georgetown, including Alison Games, Amy Leonard, John McNeill, Aviel Roshwald, and my mentor James Shedel. In particular, Dr. Shedel has played an instrumental role in guiding my career, and I wish to express my gratitude for all of the careful attention he has devoted not only to reading my dissertation, but in serving as an enthusiastic and critical soundboard for conference papers, publications, and other projects. Naturally, I am equally indebted to the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Catherine Evtuhov and Dr. Ilona Sármány- Parsons, for their insightful comments on my chapters. I remain particularly grateful to Dr. Sármány-Parsons for her generosity in introducing me to academic life in Hungary. Among the many institutional grants financially supporting my research, I must first acknowledge Dr. Lonnie Johnson and the Austrian-American Educational Committee for awarding me a 2007-08 Fulbright Research Grant, which funded the bulk of my archival fieldwork in Austria. I am also grateful to the Cosmos Club of vi Washington D.C. for Young Scholars Awards in 2006 and 2008, which allowed me to undertake secondary research trips to London, Munich, and Budapest. A 2008 P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Scholar Award generously funded the writing and completion of my dissertation. I would also like to thank the Wolfsonian Florida International University’s Scholars in Residence Program (in particular Dr. Frank Luca and the staff of the Wolfsonian Research Library) for my three weeks in residence in Miami in the Summer of 2007, where I had the chance to digest a good deal of the collection’s rare periodicals, books, and ephemeral materials relating to Central Europe. Mag. Edeltrud Desmond at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York deserves particular mention for her kindness in sharing the ACF’s resources with me. Last but not least, my sincere thanks to the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society for a 2007-08 Doctoral Scholarship which helped defray expenses in copying and related archival fees. Librarians and archivists in various institutions in Central Europe have provided essential assistance to my research, including the Austrian National Library, the Austrian State Archives, the Vienna City Archives, the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, the Graphische Sammlung Albertina, the Archives and Study Collections of the Austrian University for Applied Art, the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts Library, the Academy of Fine Arts Library and Archives, and the Vienna City Museum. In particular, I wish to thank Mag. Brigitte Mersich in the Austrian National Library’s Sammlung von Handschriften und alten Drucken for her invaluable assistance in making newly catalogued materials available to me. Likewise, I wish to acknowledge Mag. Elisabeth Köhler in the manuscripts division of the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus for her patience in procuring countless files and boxes for me. At the Vienna City Archives, I am grateful to Dr. Ingrid vii Ganster for her assistance in pulling materials, and, along with Dr. Michaela Laichmann, making the files of the Modeschule der Stadt Wien accessible. Dr. Ingrid Höfler is to be especially thanked for her generosity in sharing (and copying) the Schulbuchsammlung des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur’s rare extant copies of the Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen yearly reports. Also deserving of special mention are Dr. Markus Kristan at the Albertina’s Loos Archive; Dr. Beatrix Bastl and Mag. Ferdinand Gutschi at the Academy of Fine Arts Archive; Elke Doppler and Robert Filip at the Wien Museum; Mag. Elke Handel at the Oskar Kokoschka Zentrum/ Sammlungen der Universität für angewandte Kunst; Mag. Stefan Lehner at the Belvedere Archive; Dr. Arthur Stögmann of the Hausarchiv der Sammlungen des Fürsten von und zu Liechtenstein; and Mag. Rudolfine Lackner of the Association of Austrian Women Artists. The specialized knowledge and expertise of these individuals proved instrumental in finding women artists’ voices in the archives. In London, I remain indebted to the staffs of the British Library Manuscripts Department, the Women’s Library Archival and Museum Collections at London Metropolitan University, and the National Art Research Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In New York, I extend my sincere thanks to the staffs of various art libraries, particularly the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Watson Library, the Henry Clay Frick Art Reference Library, as well as the New York Public Library’s Research Collections, whose rare book and periodical collection filled gaps in my files from Austria. I would also like to thank Nancy Shawcross and the staff of the University of Pennsylvania Rare Books and Manuscripts Library for their helpful assistance in during many visits. viii During the conception and writing of my dissertation, many people have provided help and guidance in focusing, refining, and developing my arguments. Among these individuals who have provided helpful criticism and suggestions on my work include Pieter Judson, Brigitte Bader-Zaar, Ilona Sármány-Parsons, and Rudolfine Lackner. I am also grateful for my exchanges with Dr. Ilse Korotin, Director of the University of Vienna’s biografiA initiative, which encouraged me to think about integrating biographical perspectives into my institutional history. Research exchanges with Dr. Julie Johnson and Dr. Deborah Holmes of the Boltzmann Institute also proved helpful in this regard. To Rudolfine Lackner, current president of the Association of Austrian Women Artists, I remain particularly indebted for allowing me to access the Association’s private archives. A special thanks to Shai Halperin of Washington D.C. and Maria Newman of Lower Hutt,