Maastricht Institute of Arts

The aim was to offer art education to young people as well as to craftsmen, particularly ‘in the drawing of the human image and in the basic rules of architecture.’ A silver medal and a degree certificate were issued to the most advanced pupils each year.

The Stadsteekenschool was established in Maastricht in 1823 and later merged with the Burgeravondschool (Citizen Evening School) (1867-1921) and the Stadsteekeninstituut (City Art Institute) (1898-1926).

Well-known students included the brothers Theodoor and Alexander Schaepkens, Felix Duchateau, and Jan Brabant.

Victor de Stuers, the later founder of the Dutch monumentenzorg (cultural heritage agency) followed art lessons here at a young age.

Well-known lecturers from that time included painter Rob Graafland and sculptor Frans van der Laar.

The lecturers at this time were somewhat more open to the influence of modern, especially French art (such as Bonnard and Matisse), but the study programme continued to focus mainly on the Maastricht pottery industry practice (decorative painting) and the production of church art commissions (religious paintings, sculptures, and stained-glass windows).

From 1959 to around 1990, the academy was known as Stadsacademie voor Toegepaste Kunsten and from 1968 it officially offered a higher professional education study programme.

This building was constructed following a design by city architect Frans Dingemans, partly in the garden of the Sint-Gerlach refugee house.

The gipsotheek is still in use in Maastricht and forms an active component of the current education in fine arts, which is unique in The Netherlands.

The designer Ted Noten, selected by Stichting Kunstweek as artist of the year in 2012, also studied at the academy for a time.