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Journal of Design History 1998 11(2):109-126; doi:10.1093/jdh/11.2.109
© 1998 by Design History Society
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‘A true Siberia’: Art in Service to Commerce in the Dresden Academy and the Meissen Drawing School, 1764–1836

SARAH RICHARDS

Manchester Metropolitan University


  Abstract

A relationship between the Dresden Academy of Art and the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory was formally established as part of Saxon State policy to improve the quality and competitive edge of the region's manufactures following the Seven Years War (1756–63). The Meissen School was perceived to be significant among the satellite drawing schools in Saxon manufacturing centres, but it was a difficult institution to manage with clarity of purpose. Conflicts emerged when the Academy's concern to uphold ‘good taste’ ran counter to Meissen's commercial interests, especially at a time when the latter encountered severe setbacks in a turbulent period between two major stages in Saxon State reform. The curriculum at the Meissen School is given particular attention in this paper with regard to the Academy's aim to ‘introduce good taste’. The conflicts arising from the different objectives of commercial success on the one hand and the protection of academic standards on the other is revealed through the experiences of some of the artists who were employed at Meissen. At the same time it is possible to throw some light on the process of defining and redefining art and design education in the transition from Saxon commercial to industrial capitalism.

Key Words: art academies • ceramics • decorative arts • Germany • Schools of Design • taste


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