Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-244) and index.

Introduction: Breslau and the culture of the Weimar Republic -- Trad ition and modernity : urban planning in Breslau -- Another way to under stand modernism : Breslau Wohnung und Werkbund Ausstellung, 1929 -- The Breslau Academy of Fine and Applied Arts -- Dissemination of taste : B reslau collectors, arts associations, and museums -- Between idealism a nd realism : architecture in Breslau -- A nonideological modernism : Br eslau artists in the 1920s -- Epilogue.

"The Breslau arts scene during the Weimar period was one of the most vibrant in all of Germany, yet it has disappeared from memory and hist oriography. Breslau was a key center for innovative artistic production during the Weimar Republic; recovery of its history will shed new ligh t on German cultural dynamics in the 1920s. Such a study has art histor ical significance because of the incredible extent of innovation that o ccurred in almost every intellectual field, advances that formed the ba sis for aesthetic modernism internationally and continue to affect the course of visual art and architecture today. Architecture education, ju st one example in many, is still largely based on a combination of the Bauhaus model from the 1920s and the model developed at the Breslau Aca demy of Fine and Applied Art. The exploratory attitude encouraged in We imar era arts endeavors, as opposed to the conformism of academic art, is still a core value promoted in contemporary art and architecture cir cles. Given the long-lasting influence of Weimar culture on modernism o ne would expect to find a spate of studies examining every aspect of it s cultural production, but this is not the case. Recent scholarship is almost exclusively focused on Berlin and the Dessau Bauhaus. Although b oth interests are understandable, the creative explosion was not confin ed to these cities but was part of a larger cultural ethos that extende d into many of the smaller regional centers. The Expressionist associat ions the Blaue Reiter in Munich and Brèucke in Dresden are two well-kno wn examples. Equally, innovation was not confined to a few monumental p rojects like the Stuttgart Weissenhofsiedlung but part of a broader nat ional cultural ethos. The dispersion of modernism occurred partly becau se of the political history of Germany as a loosely joined confederatio n of small city states and principalities that had strong individual cu ltural identities before unification in 1871 but also because of the Ge rman propensity to value and take intense pride in the Heimat, understo od both as the hometown and the region. Heimatliebe translated into gen erous support for cultural institutions in outlying cities. Host to a r oster of internationally acclaimed artists and architects, major collec tors, arts organizations, museums, presses, galleries, and one of the p remier German arts academies of the day, Breslau boasted a thriving mod ern arts scene until 1933 when the Nazis began their assault on so-call ed 'degenerate' art. This book charts the cultural production of Bresla u-based artists, architects, art collectors, urban designers, and arts educators, who were especially interesting because they operated in the space between the margins of Weimar-era cultural debates. Rather than accepting the radical position of the German avant-garde or the reactio nary position of German conservatives, many Breslauers sought a middle ground. It is the first book in English to address this history and pre sents the history in a manner unique to any studies currently on the ma rket. Beyond the Bauhaus explores the polyvalent and contradictory natu re of cultural production in Breslau in order to expand the cultural an d geographic scope of Weimar history; the book asserts a reciprocal dim ension to the relationship between regional culture and national cultur e, between centers like Breslau and the capital Berlin. With major inte rnational figures like the painters Otto Mueller and Oskar Moll, archit ects Hans Scharoun and Adolf Rading, urban planners Max Berg and Ernst May, collectors Ismar Littmann and Max Silberberg, and an art academy t hat by 1929 was considered the best in Germany, Breslau clearly had sig nificance to narratives of Weimar cultural production. Beyond the Bauha us contributes the history of German culture during the Weimar Republic . It belongs alongside histories of art, architecture, urban design, ex hibition, collecting, and culture; histories of the Bauhaus; histories of arts education more broadly; and German history. The readership woul d include those interested in German history; German art, architecture, urban design, planning, collecting, and exhibition history; in the ava nt-garde; the development of arts academies and arts pedagogy; and the history of Breslau and Silesia"--From Google Books.