Gustaf Adolf Britsch (11 August 1879 – 27 October 1923) was an early 20th-century German art theorist and the founder of Gustaf Britsch Institute in

Starnberg Starnberg is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the Starnberg (district), district of Starnberg. Recor ...

, Germany.

Life

Gustaf Britsch was born into a middle-class

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

n family of teachers. He left his family early. He first studied architecture at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

and worked as an architect in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. Then he enrolled in 1906 at the

Munich University of Philosophy Munich School of Philosophy (German: ''Hochschule für Philosophie München'') is a small Jesuit higher education college in Munich, Germany founded in 1925. History Founded as a seminary at Pullach in 1925 by Augustin Bea, first named the B ...

and studied with

Hans Cornelius Johannes Wilhelm Cornelius (; 27 September 1863 – 23 August 1947) was a German neo-Kantian philosopher and psychologist. Biography Born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria on 27 September 1863, he originally studied mathematics, physics, and chemistr ...

and

Theodor Lipps Theodor Lipps (; 28 July 1851 – 17 October 1914) was a German philosopher, known for his theory regarding aesthetics, creating the framework for the concept of ''Einfühlung'' (empathy)'','' defined as, "projecting oneself onto the object of p ...

. He created theories to the understanding of art by early 1907, which were received by

Adolf von Hildebrand Adolf von Hildebrand (6 October 1847 – 18 January 1921) was a German sculptor. Life Hildebrand was born at Marburg, the son of Marburg economics professor Bruno Hildebrand. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, with Kaspar von ...

and Konrad Fiedler. In 1909 he founded in Florence the "Institute of Theoretical and Applied Art Studies". In 1910, he was encouraged by Cornelius to publish his theories. He moved back to Munich in 1911 and in 1912 opened the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Arts Science again on Theresa Street in

Schwabing Schwabing is a borough in the northern part of Munich, the Capital (political), capital of the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is part of the city borough 4 (Schwabing-West) and the city borough 12 (Schwabing-Freimann). The population of Sc ...

. In 1913 he spoke at the Congress of Aesthetics and General Art Studies in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Together with his student Egon Kornmann he represented a highly regarded school of thought about children's artistic development, which found its way into art education programs in Germany. These theories were also contradictory to others, such as Richard Mund. After Britschs' death, Kornmannn continued the Gustaf Britsch Institute in Starnberg. He also married Britschs' widow Louise, and clarified with her Britschs' designs and theories. So the Starnberger Kornmann-Britsch-circle (also Britsch-Kormann School) was founded, which employed art teacher

Hans Herrmann Hans Herrmann (born 23 February 1928) is a retired Formula One and sports car racing driver from Stuttgart, Germany. In F1, he participated in 19 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 2 August 1953. He achieved one podium, and scored ...

. Kornmann was editor in the 1930s of the magazine ''The Shape''.

Gustaf Britsch Institute

The Gustaf Britsch Institute for Art Research (also known as: Institute of Theoretical and Applied Arts Science; School of Fine Arts Starnberg; private art school Britsch-Kornmann; Gustaf Britsch Institute for comparative viewing art) existed from 1912 in Munich and then from about 1920 to about 1967 in a fashionable villa on Prinzenweg 13 in Starnberg, headed by Egon and Louise Kornmann. Numerous international artists and art teachers were trained and employed for decades, such as: * 1912–1915 Arnold Clementschitsch * 1920 Fritz von Graevenitz * 1921/1925 Hermann Mayrhofer * 1925 Martin Seitz (Schüler von Josef Wackerle) * 1925–1929 Gerhard Gollwitzer * 1926 Rudolf Conrad Erich Allwardt * 1934 Irina Alexandrowna Borchman * 1939 Richard Lackner * 1943 Hans Grünseistoogolino.kunstwart.com
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Works

Britsch published art theoretical essays, which were created in part by Gustaf Britsch Institute Starnberg as teaching material: * Gustaf Britsch: Theory of Fine Art (edited by Egon Kornmann), 1926 * Gustaf Britsch: Theory of Fine Arts. 4 Edition, Verlag Henn, Ratingen 1966

Literature

* Otfried Contactor: Britsch and Kornmann. Quellenkundliche studies on the theory of the visual arts; Königshausen and Neumann. Würzburg, 1993. * Gustaf Britsch: Fonts. Fragments on art theory in the early 20th Century. In 1981. . * Egon Kornmann: Britsch, Gustav Adolf. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, , p 618 ( digitized ).

Life

Gustaf Britsch Institute

Works

Literature

Notes

References

Further reading