Doppelt übersehen. Zum Ausschluss von Kunstgewerblerinnen des Deutschen Kaiserreichs in der feministischen Historiografie und der Disziplin Designgeschichte

Abstract

Doubly overlooked. On the exclusion of female arts and crafts artists in the German Empire in feminist historiography and the discipline of design history
Both feminist historiography and the discipline of design history failed to recognise the newly emerging profession of female arts and crafts artists (Kunstgewerblerinnen) in the decades leading up to the Weimar Republic, in particular during the Gründerzeit (1871–1914). This is surprising given that, despite numerous legal and cultural restrictions, relatively large numbers of women achieved their initial professional success solely on account of self-empowerment through, for instance, women’s networks and working practices focusing on the market. Despite a wealth of self-help literature aimed at women’s professions, the historical women’s movement only acknowledged arts and crafts in passing in its research on factory and home workers. Design history, in turn, did not really recognise modern design until the founding of the Bauhaus in 1919, in spite of the economic boom surrounding the arts and crafts reform movement and a booming arts and crafts market. It also wrote the “modernity” of design, even in its “prehistory”, as a purely male history. This exclusion from collective memory led to a lack of sources, which continues to hamper research in both disciplines to this day.

Keywords: collective memory, feminist historiography, design history, self-empowerment, women’s networks, arts and crafts reform movement

Bibliography: Breuer, Gerda: Doppelt übersehen. Zum Ausschluss von Kunstgewerblerinnen des Deutschen Kaiserreichs in der feministischen Historiografie und der Disziplin Designgeschichte, GENDER – Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft, 3-2026, pp. 99-115.