Damenakademien München und Berlin und Malerinnenschule Karlsruhe
While Russia opened its art schools to women as early as 1871, those in Germany remained male-only until the beginning of the Weimar Republic.
These institutions were founded through self-help groups in Munich and Berlin and the Artist Academy [de] in Karlsruhe, and offered a limited range of courses.
While men could receive academic instruction even with limited financial resources, women's education entailed considerable expense.
While female students could study at the Königlich Akademische Hochschule für ausübende Tonkunst (Royal Academic College for Practicing Music) since it was founded in 1869, women remained excluded from the Universität der Künste Berlin (College of Fine Arts) until the German Revolution of 1918-1919, i.e. until the end of the German Empire.
The Hochschule für die bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts) under its director Anton von Werner came under considerable pressure; demands for the admission of women to study were raised loudly.
In 1904, a group of "Ladies", among them Käthe Kollwitz, Sabine Lepsius and Julie Wolfthorn, addressed a petition to the academy director.
These and other petitions, which found support in the Prussian House of Representatives and in the press, forced the academy to take a stand on the issue of women's studies.
No women were admitted to study at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München (Academy of Fine Arts in Munich) from 1852 to 1920.
The Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule München (Munich Royal School of Applied Arts), founded in 1868, granted women training beginning in 1872, at least in its "female department", with studies to become drawing teachers.
The house at Barer Straße 21 had five large studio windows on the garden side, and they offered training in figure and nude drawing,[7] lessons in perspective, painting technique, art history, and anatomy, plus several electives such as portrait drawing, composition theory, still life and animal painting.
Munich's "Damenakademie" was soon widely known and attracted numerous young women from Germany and abroad who wanted to receive artistic training.
In 1905, women were finally also able to attend the Staatliche Fachakademie für Fotodesign München (Teaching and Research Institute for Photography) and quickly achieved success with their work there.
[12] In 1902, the painter and director Hans Olde obtained admission for women to study at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar.
[13] When it was founded on 15 October 1900, the Staatliche Fachakademie für Fotodesign München (Teaching and Research Institute for Photography), in Rennbahnstraße near Munich's Theresienwiese, initially admitted only male students.
In 1909, due to female students' objections to the conditions of the uncomfortable dormitory, the school moved to a vacant former hospital building, which it opened in May 1911.
