Prussian Academy of Art

The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: Preußische Akademie der Künste) was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Prussia.

After the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome and the Académies Royales in Paris, the Prussian Academy of Art was the oldest institution of its kind in Europe, with a similar mission to other royal academies of that time, such as the Real Academia Española in Madrid, the Royal Society in London, or the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

The academy had a decisive influence on art and its development in the German-speaking world throughout its existence. For an extended period of time it was also the German artists' society and training organisation, whilst the Academy's Senate became Prussia's arts council as early as 1699.

It dropped 'Prussian' from its name in 1945 and was finally disbanded in 1955 after the 1954 foundation of two separate academies of art for East Berlin and West Berlin in 1954. Those two separate academies merged in 1993 to form Berlin's present-day Academy of Arts.

Most artists were associated with the academy as members. Membership was an honorary distinction extended to prominent domestic Prussian artists (after unification, German artists) and selected foreign figures as well. A 'deliberative' body of senators was chosen from the membership -- some elected, and some automatically included due to other rank.

The academy was not a school, although it had associations with educational institutions, notably the state school that evolved into the present-day Berlin University of the Arts.

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