A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts And
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.
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