What is Ethnological Museum Dresden

A few years after art patron and museum founder Karl Ernst Osthaus (1874-1921) had his family residence—the Hohenhof (1908-1906)—built, he decided to have his study redesigned with a striking ornament. The chapter aims to explain why Osthaus had his study redesigned and how impulses from Islamic ornamentation and the world art collection at his museum—the Folkwang—were tied to this process. It will become apparent that to Osthaus this was not a process of mere decoration after Orientalist fashion but rather a way to exemplify how impulses from other cultures can lead to a new way of artistic practice. Osthaus believed that applied arts and architecture were the most important means of initiating social change, and his study became a place to discuss the significance of Eastern artistic practice to contemporary design questions.