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INVENTORY OF THE KARL SCHNEIDER PAPERS,
1910-1962, bulk 1925-1945
850129
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Table of contents
Title: Karl Schneider papers
Dates: 1910-1962
Dates: 1925-1945
Collection number: 850129
Creator:
Schneider, Karl, 1892-1945
Extent:
59 boxes, 10 flat file folders
(ca. 45 lin. ft.
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA
90049-1688
Abstract: German architect born in Mainz, Germany, who received his architectural training under Lussow and Kuehne (Dresden, 1911-1912),
Walter Gropius (Berlin, 1912-1914), and Peter Behrens (Berlin, 1915-1916). After immigrating to the United States in 1938,
he worked in Chicago for Sears, Roebuck and Company. The papers contain photographs, correspondence, original documents, glass
slides, and many original drawings. About half of the drawings are his designs for consumer products produced by his employer
Sears, Roebuck and Company.
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Language: Collection material in English
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Karl Schneider papers, ca. 1910-1962, bulk 1925-1945, Getty
Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 850129.
Acquired in 1985.
This collection was processed sporadically by
several interns at the Getty Research Library, Special Collections Department. In January
of 1995 Vanessa Walker-Oakes began re-processing the collection, and finished
the correspondence and part of the photographic series by March. In July 1995,
Michael Baker took over the processing and description of the collection. He completed the
finding aid in mid-October 1995.
Unpublished catalogue to the photographs, formerly in the collection
of Emanuel Wolff, available in the repository.
Karl Schneider,
Bauten. Berlin-Leipzig-Wien: Friedrich Ernst
Hübsch Verlag G.M.B.H., 1929. Moved to Getty Research Library, catalog
number NA 1088 S36 B35 1929.
Karl Schneider was born in Mainz Germany in 1892. He trained as an
architect under Lussow and Kühne (Dresden, 1911-1912), Walter Gropius
(Berlin, 1912-1914), and Peter Behrens (Berlin, 1915-1916). After serving in
the military from 1917 to 1919, Schneider established architectural firm in
Hamburg, which he directed until 1933. His Villa Michaelsen, well-received by
critics when completed in 1923, brought him numerous private commissions for
domestic architecture. In the later 1920s Schneider joined a group of
architects known as "Der Ring," whose stated goal was to reject past-enshrined
forms and employ the latest technology to solve contemporary building problems.
This group included among its members Otto Bartning, Peter Behrens, Walter
Gropius, Erich Mendelsohn, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, among others. In 1926,
Schneider's designs for the Großseidlung Jarrestadt-Barmbek, a
city-sponsored competition, won first prize and brought further financial and
artistic rewards.
In 1933, the new Nazi government dismissed Karl Schneider from his
professorship at the Landesschüle, despite the protest of students who
petitioned the Bürgermeister for reconsideration of the termination. Due
to continued pressure by the Nazi regime, Schneider left the Hamburg firm in
1933 and "Der Ring" was disbanded. In 1935, his wife, Emma Schneider, sought
and received a civil divorce on the grounds of adultery. In 1938, Karl left
Germany with his second wife, the photographer Ursula Wolff, and emigrated to
the United States. Settling in Chicago, Schneider found work at Sears, Roebuck
and Company where he remained until his death in 1945.
At Sears, Roebuck and Company, Schneider was the head of the corporate
design department, the first of its kind in America. He was hired on the
recommendations of Walter Gropius, Lewis Mumford, and Walter Curt Behrendt.
Schneider contributed to the progressive designs of Sears products, including
"Craftsman" tools, mass-market furniture, home appliances, children's toys, and
Sears retail stores. By creating products in the streamlined modern style,
Schneider shaped the evolution of corporate architecture and retail product
design in America. Through Schneider's work, Sears' stores may have introduced
many Americans to streamlined and, what came to be called, "International
Style" designs.
In cooperation with the Chicago Housing Commission, Schneider
participated in various urban planning projects. In fact, his relationship with
the city aided in securing his position during the war years, when a paranoid
populace raised questions, based on Schneider's nationality, concerning his
loyalties. Beyond these endeavors, Schneider devoted his time to national
competitions, including the Smithsonian competition in 1939. Although not
selected, his designs for the Smithsonian's Gallery of American Art are
illustrative of his technique, logic, style, and desire to shape the American
architectural milieu.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Karl Schneider papers (c. 2000 items) contain photographs,
correspondence, original documents, glass slides, and many original drawings.
Most of the photographic materials (c. 850 items) document Schneider's first
career in Germany (1921-1938), and the architectural achievements of his
contemporaries. There are also a small number of official documents from both
Weimar and Nazi Germany (ca. 1911-1933). All of the original drawings and sketches (c. 1000
items) date from after Schneider's immigration to the United States in 1938-39.
About half of these are his designs for consumer products produced by his
employer Sears, Roebuck, and Company (1938-1945). The collection, therefore,
offers an interesting glimpse into an artist/designer's collaboration with
commercial industry.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into four series:
Series I.
Personal and Professional Papers
;
Series
II. Sketches and Drawings
;
Series
III. Photographs and Slides
;
Series
IV. Glass Negatives
.
Subjects: Personal and corporate names
Brunelleschi, Filippo, 1377-1446
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564
Schneider, Karl, 1892-1945
Sullivan, Louis H., 1856-1924
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Architecture, Domestic—United States
Architecture—United States—20th century
Architecture—Germany—20th centory
Art museums
Furniture design
Household appliances
International style (architecture)—United States
Stores, Retail
Tools—Drawings
Toys
Design drawings—20th century
Inventories
Photographic prints
Photographs, Original
Postcards
Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969
Mumford, Lewis, 1895-
Scheel, Ernst
Schneider, Karl, 1892-1945—Bauten
Wind, Edgar, 1900-
Wolff, Ursula