Creation and initial operations of the Fine Arts and Artisanal Handicraft Society within the modernization of the early 20th Century

Abstract

A new organization was established in July 1905, under the name of the Fine Arts and Artisanal Handicraft Society (Verein für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe). During the founding meeting its statute was passed to regulate its operations. The society was headed by city councillor Ernst Goeritz and the society’s first board included university teachers, artists, and members of the city’s cultural elite.

The society remained in operation for a relatively short period of time: until 1913, when it merged with the Society for Fine Arts. It introduced refreshing values to the social life of Gdańsk of the early 1900s, promoting new trends in arts and crafts. It suggested new methods of cooperating with the public: preparing a number of small exhibitions in each season, lectures, and group tours of monuments. Much emphasis was also placed on the aesthetics and typography of printed ephemera: invitations, programmes, and catalogues.

Thanks to such endeavours the society significantly influenced the attitude of the population of Gdańsk and their openness to new artistic trends. The activity of the Society is, therefore, a part of the reform movement (Reformbewegung) which was visible throughout Germany in the late 19th and early 20th Century and posited – among other issues – the renewal of artisanal handicraft.