Study of regionality in 19th century German art reflected in the contemporary collections

1994 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 05610049
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Fine art history
• Research Institution: Gakushuin University
• Principal Investigator: ARIKAWA Haruo Gakushuin University, Faculty of Literature, Associate Professor, 文学部, 助教授 (60133609)
• Project Period (FY): 1993 – 1994
• Keywords: German art / 19th century art / Art collection / Art museum / Art statistics / Cultural policy / Regionality

Research Abstract

Problem of the "unity" and "regionality" of the art in German-speaking countries amkes the characters of German art complicated, as Konrad Oberhuber has already suggested. Especially in 19th century, countries in Germany including Austria and the Switzerland competed with each other for the new form and character of "Germany" and emphasized the "regional character", ironically, to get the new "unity". Together with universities, libraries and public gardens, museums were newly founded as one of the cultural institutions under the national (regional) policy in that situation.
To consider the characters of such "regionality", this research was directed to the studyof the formation and development of art museum collection in 19th century Germany.
As the appropriate method to the study, the investigator took the statistical approach to the collection of art museums of four great art-centers in 19th century Germany-Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Vienna.The accumulated data ofeach works in museums concerning the artists, schools and aquisition dates makes the characters of each collection clear, and also the regional characters of each art-center and each country (Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Austria etc.).
The various data in the "Report" of the reseach present the fundamenal information for the further studies of the 19th century German art.