Leseprobe

25 Karl Schmidt was, by birth as well as by training, a simple craftsman – yet at the same time hewas aman of extraordinary curiosity, many interests and a great openness to the changing discussion surrounding the decorative arts at the end of the nineteenth century (Figure 1). The journeyman years that followed his carpentry apprenticeship offer proof of his drive to expand his education far beyond the borders of Saxony. The programmatic approach of the Dresdner Werkstätten für Handwerkskunst (founded in 1898, renamed ‘Deutschen Werkstätten für Handwerkskunst’ in 1907) was influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement. Schmidt’s idea – to work with the best artists in the country, yet still produce affordable furniture – was visionary. Schmidt had already broken away from the conventional commissioning process by 1899. In contrast to typical practice up to that point, which was to purchase designs from artists (or, in this case, designers and architects), Schmidt instead actively encouraged the professionals – women and men alike – to submit drafts for furniture and handicrafts, offering them a share of five to ten percent of the profit from DEUTSCHE WERKSTÄTTEN OR: KARL SCHMIDT, THE VISIONARY FROM SAXONY Tulga Beyerle sales. This demonstrated his astounding feel for the spirit of the times and for the will to reform that was then asserting itself. These reforms included rethinking design, moving away from a historicising mishmash of styles, seeking out new forms and executing them in the highest quality. His proposal of cooperation as well as his network, which was already well activated at that time, produced from the very beginning a multitude of exceptional designs by the era’s best designers (Figure 2). In this sense, Karl Schmidt broke new ground in Germany and was soon enjoying international recognition and success. Günther von Pechmann, the first director of the Neue Sammlung in Munich, said the following, and not without reason: “Deutsche Werkstätten is one of the workshops that will always be mentioned when the talk turns to the age of great transformation in German decorative arts [. . .].” 1 It is therefore no accident that Karl Schmidt also played a decisive role in the founding of the Deutscher Werkbund in 1907.