Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Other things to see
include: a toy horse
belonging to the saxon
royal family (with the
toy horse for visiting
children below)…
… a bed and cupboard from the Faktorenhof in Ebersbach, 1800, …
new content. Under Socialism, folk art was regarded as
the art of the working class and as proof of that class’s
cultural competence. Consequently, courses in carving,
painting and lacemaking were organised in which skilled
artists provided thorough instruction in the various
techniques and conveyed sound knowledge about art –
irrespective of the ideological slant, which was sometimes
clearly articulated, sometimes less so. It is this
good­quality teaching that explains why in the eastern
federal states of Germany it is taken for granted that the
concept of folk art is still a recognized and respected
variant in the art and culture scene. The “do­it­yourself”
principle, which in GDR times was often enough simply a
case of making a virtue out of necessity. Sometimes it
was simply impossible to obtain professionally made
Nutcracker figures from the Ore Mountains. Folk Art had
– and still has – the potential to initiate a new form of
creativity which may either be an end in itself or may attract
a viewing audience.
A particularly stimulating section of the new exhibition is
devoted to this variant of the broad concept of folk art,
which is known as autodidactic art. As previously in the
collection on the first floor and in the Puppet Theatre
Collection in the attic, curious children can now find a
Children’s Trail with various hands­on, experimental and
play activities on the ground floor, too.
The Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst regards itself not
only as a poetic place for lovers and tourists, but, above all,
as a lively family museum which is developing further into
the “intergenerational centre” of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Dresden.
and a doll’s house
dating to around 1900
with an integrated
playing area for young
visitors
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