A presentation about the Museum for Education and Art that was located in the Witte de Withstraat from 1880 to 1884.
The twentieth edition of Rotterdam Cultural Histories is a presentation about the Museum for Education and Art that was located in the Witte de Withstraat from 1880 to 1884. This short-lived museum in Rotterdam was located a stone's throw away from the building of the Melly Art Institute, which in turn was built in the 1870s as a female civic school.
The Museum for Education and Art was founded by the Rotterdam publishers J. van der Hoeven and D. Buys. Their approach to the educational vocation of museums was peculiar, or at least more enterprising and less sacrosanct than we would consider it today: on the one hand, the museum's exhibitions presented artistic, scientific and pedagogical material; on the other hand, these exhibitions also functioned as commercial displays, since many objects were also for sale. This dual purpose promoted the use of art as a tool for learning in a new context.
This exhibition presents material from the Museum of Education and Art from the City Archives Rotterdam, including a neighborhood map from 1880; the museum brochure, promotional material and map, as well as pages of the sales inventory of the museum's collection. This presentation is part of the series Rotterdam Cultural Histories from Art Institute Melly and TENT. Also inspiring for the presentation is Melly's ongoing series of projects Anchored, which explores the histories of our building, our street and our neighbours.
Rotterdam Cultural Histories #20: the Museum for Education and Art is organized by a team from Art Institute Melly: Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Julija Mockutė, Paul van Gennip, Wendy van Slagmaat-Bos and Jeroen Lavèn. We thank Lonneke Visser, Lineke van den Bout, Maaike Heemskerk, Tim van der Post, Corinne Lampen, Martijn Verbon and Janneke Pierhagen and acknowledge the historical work done by Luca van Buren and the National Education Museum.
Supported by: Rotterdam City Archives