‘Design in a Broad Sense and design in a narrow sense’ A History of School Names of Art and Design Educational Institutions

Session I : Design History and Design Education

Nikolaus Pevsner featured William Morris and Walter Gropius as design pioneers in his important publications. However, Pevsner and Gropius were Germans, not the ones who used ‘design’ early on. Even the Englishman Morris, didn’t use ‘design’ so much. Historical changes and geographical differences of ‘design’ are important for design history research. The Bauhaus is considered for modern design education, but ‘design’ was not used in Germany. After the Bauhaus was closed and its key members moved to the United States, ‘design’ was used for their school names. The Government School of Design founded in London in 1837 was historically important but renamed the School of Art in the 1850s. The National Academy of Design was founded in New York in 1825. The Chicago Academy of Design was opened in 1866. The Rhode Island School of Design was founded in Providence in 1877. The Chicago Academy of Design was renamed the Art Institute of Chicago, but the Rhode Island School of Design continues with the same name even today. The New York School of Fine and Applied Art was renamed Parsons School of Design in 1936. Design is broad in the USA. In the 1960-70s, the Istituto Europeo di Design, using English ‘design’ for school name, was founded in Milano, Roma, etc., and schools of the same name were also opened in Spain and Brazil. The national design schools, founded in the 1970s in Italy, used Italian ‘disegno industriale’ instead of ‘design’ for their school names. In France, many Écoles de Dessin were opened in the eighteenth century, after the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture founded in 1648. Italian ‘disegno’ and French ‘dessin’ influenced English ‘design’. However, the École Supérieure d’Art et de Design, which added English ‘design’ to the name of the higher art school, began to appear in the 1990s. The Accademia del Disegno, the École de Dessin, and the School of Design influenced each other. Although German language is not directly related to Italian or French language, art and design education in these countries also influenced each other.