The outstanding cultural significance of the Brothers Grimm is undisputed. In research, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are honoured as scientists, librarians, diplomats and artists. However, the children's and youth drawings of the two multi-talented artists have not yet been analysed. A researcher at Paderborn University has taken this as an opportunity to analyse the earliest testimonies of the Brothers Grimm.
"Children's and young people's drawings are often overlooked as historically significant documents and archival records. Yet they are valuable graphic testimonies to social changes, war events and important events, for example. They also provide an insight into the school and educational history of previous generations from the perspective of children and young people," explains Dr Larissa Eikermann, research assistant at the Chair of Painting (Didactics) at Paderborn University.
Together with Prof. em. Dr. Jutta Schröter-Bender, former Professor of Art and its Didactics (Painting) at the University of Paderborn, and Susanne Völker, Head of Cultural Affairs of the City of Kassel until 2023, she has published a new anthology entitled "Die Kinder- und Jugendzeichnungen der Brüder Grimm und ihrer Familie", which documents the early exhibits from the Grimm Collection of the City of Kassel in depth for the first time and analyses their provenance history - the history of the origin of artworks and artefacts.
The authors of the individual essays look at the subject of research from different perspectives and with the help of various academic methods - from historical contextualisation and analysis of the motifs to their application in school education. Among other things, these allow new conclusions to be drawn about the early work of the Brothers Grimm and the history of education in the 19th century.
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