The academy had a decisive influence on art and its development in the German-speaking world throughout its existence.
For an extended period of time it was also the German artists' society and training organisation, whilst the Academy's Senate became Prussia's arts council as early as 1699.
It dropped 'Prussian' from its name in 1945 and was finally disbanded in 1955 after the 1954 foundation of two separate academies of art for East Berlin and West Berlin in 1954. Those two separate academies merged in 1993 to form Berlin's present-day Academy of Arts.[1]
Most artists were associated with the academy as members. Membership was an honorary distinction extended to prominent domestic Prussian artists (after unification, German artists) and selected foreign figures as well. A 'deliberative' body of senators was chosen from the membership – some elected, and some automatically included due to other rank.
The academy was not a school, although it had associations with educational institutions, notably the state school that evolved into the present-day Berlin University of the Arts.
The academy was founded to include painters, sculptors, and architects as members, which reflected the classical unity of the arts ideal. The scope was expanded in 1704 to include "Mechanical Sciences". The academy's first director (president) was Swiss painter Joseph Werner. In 1796, the Academy announced a competition for a monument in honour of Frederick the Great. Friedrich Gilly designed a monumental temple in the style of revolutionary architecture (Revolutionsarchitektur) to be erected on Leipziger Platz in Berlin. Today, the design is part of the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin.[4]
Name changes:
1696–1704 Kurfürstliche Academie der Mahler-, Bildhauer- und Architectur-Kunst (Electoral Academy of the Arts of Painter, Sculptor and Architecture)
1704–1790 Königlich-Preussische Akademie der Künste und mechanischen Wissenschaften (Royal Prussian Academy of the Arts and Mechanical Sciences)
1790–1809 Königliche Akademie der bildenden Künste und mechanischen Wissenschaften zu Berlin (Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Mechanical Sciences of Berlin)
Longtime director and sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow served from 1815 to 1850. In 1833 the academy added a fine arts division, and a music division in 1835.
1790–1809 Königliche Akademie der bildenden Künste und mechanischen Wissenschaften zu Berlin (Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Mechanical Sciences of Berlin)
1809–1875 Königlich Preussische Akademie der Künste (Royal Prussian Academy of the Arts)
1875–1882 Königlich Preussische Akademie der Künste zu Berlin (Royal Prussian Academy of the Arts of Berlin)
1882–1918 Königliche Akademie der Künste zu Berlin (Royal Academy of the Arts of Berlin)
Director Max Liebermann (center) opening a 1922 "Black & White" Exhibition at the Academy
In 1926 the academy added a Dichtkunst (Fine Poetry) division, a Dichtung (Poetry) division in 1932, and the German Academy of Poetry from the beginning of June 1933. From 1930 until his parting into exile in 1933, novelist Heinrich Mann was its president.
Painter and sculptor Paul Wallat studied there from 1902 to 1909 under Otto Brausewetter [de] (de) (1835–1904) and Carl Saltzmann. On 29 December 1906 he received the award of the Ginsberg Foundation of the Berlin Academy. In 1920, Käthe Kollwitz became the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy, but with the coming to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933 she was expelled because of her beliefs and her art.
Name changes:
1882–1918 Königliche Akademie der Künste zu Berlin (Royal Academy of the Arts of Berlin)
1918–1926 Akademie der Künste zu Berlin (Academy of the Arts of Berlin)
1926–1931 Preußische Akademie der Künste zu Berlin (Prussian Academy of the Arts of Berlin)
1931–1954 Preussische Akademie der Künste (Prussian Academy of the Arts; disbanded)
^"History". Akademie der Künste – official website.
^According to the documents, Weidemann is listed as director until 1751. See Hans Müller, Die Königliche Akademie der Künste zu Berlin, 1696–1896, Part 1 (Berlin, 1896), p. 97. However, he died in 1750.
^In 1732, Pesne received the title of "Director der Mahler- und Bildhauer-Kunstakademie". See Hans Müller, Die Königliche Akademie der Künste zu Berlin, 1696–1896, Part 1 (Berlin, 1896), p. 97.
^Tillack-Graf, Anne-Kathleen (2004). Das Denkmal für Friedrich den Großen von Friedrich Gilly (in German). Munich.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Quoted on Tate website: Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.227–8
„Die Kunst hat nie ein Mensch allein besessen“ – 300 Jahre Akademie der Künste und Hochschule der Künste. Ausstellung in der Akademie der Künste, Berlin 1996, Konzeption: Agnete von Specht, Hans Gerhard Hannesen, Bodo Baumunk. (in German)
Hans Gerhard Hannesen: Die Akademie der Künste in Berlin – Facetten einer 300jährigen Geschichte. Akademie der Künste, Berlin 2005. (in German)
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Max Liebermann – Jahrhundertwende. Ausstellung in der Alten Nationalgalerie. Berlin 1997. (in German)
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Kunst in Berlin 1648–1987. Ausstellung im Alten Museum. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1987. (in German)
Berlin Museum: Stadtbilder – Berlin in der Malerei vom 17. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart. Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung und Verlag Willmuth Arenhövel, Berlin 1987. (in German)
Werner Durth, Günter Behnisch: Berlin. Pariser Platz. Neubau der Akademie der Künste. Jovis, Berlin 2005. (in German)
