Viktor Lowenfeld: Portrait of a Young Art Teacher in Vienna in the 1930s

Abstract

Viktor Lowenfeld (1903-1960), one of the most influential art educators of the 20th century and author of Creative and Mental Growth (1947, 1952, 1957), barely talked or wrote about his early teaching experiences at the Chajes Realgymnasium, a secondary school for Jewish youth in Vienna, where he taught art and math for 14 years before fleeing the Nazis in 1938 and eventually emigrating to the United States. Lowenfeld did write extensively about teaching blind and visually impaired students during the same period in Vienna, publishing his findings in The Nature of Creative Activity (1939). This article formulates new information about Lowenfeld’s early teaching years at the Chajes Realgymnasium based on two student art portfolios, personal interviews with three of Lowenfeld’s former students, and additional correspondence with others. Discussion about Lowenfeld’s relative silence about his years at the Chajes Realgymnasium concludes the article.

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