Kunstgewerbemuseum: Nouveautés – Art school and lace industry

Nouveautés – Art school and lace industry

What would “Plauen Lace” be without the Art School for the Textile Industry in Plauen? The designs of the “Nouveautés”, the style-defining novelties of the embroidery and lace industry in the Vogtland, were largely from the pens of this institution’s graduates.

Exhibition Site Schloss Pillnitz

DATES 01/05/2021—31/10/2021

The history and the activities of the Plauen Art School between 1877 and 1945 are now being presented comprehensively for the first time in a joint exhibition by the Kunstgewerbemuseum of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Vogtland Museum Plauen.

The fascinating designs are accompanied in the exhibition by textiles, pattern folders, and fashion photographs from the Art School’s former collections, which survived their destruction during the Second World War and are now preserved in the Vogtland Museum Plauen. Lace products from the Plauen industry, mainly from the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts, provide insight into the diversity of designs inspired by the Art School’s drafts.

In Vitanje, the bobbin lace centre of Slovenia, a bobbin lace giant was developed. As an XXL hammock, it will serve as a usable hang-out in the Pillnitz outdoor area over the summer. We will even “tie in” with this and want to create more hang-outs together with our visitors over the summer!

The history and work of the school between 1877 and 1945 were presented in 2020 and 2021 in a cooperation exhibition of the Kunstgewerbemuseum of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Vogtlandmuseum Plauen at both locations and in a jointed publication presented. The appearance of the exhibition, publication and campaign was designed by anschlaege.de, Berlin and won two Red Dot Design Awards. Many thanks and congratulations to the whole team - we were very happy!