ABSTRACT
In October 1897, Julian Abele was admitted to the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. The museum’s industrial art school was a synthesis of a fine arts museum and art school. The umbilical relationship between the museum and art school was a concept imported from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum which was internationally admired for improving the quality of London’s arts and manufactures. The museum was an exercise in civic pride a residual of the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (1876). The SIA’s mission was to provide instruction in drawing for artists, sculptors, textilers and “mechniks”. A School of Industrial Art under the influence of an internationally renowned arts museum appealed to Julian–a rising Francophile. The 21st commencement was held June 9, 1898. Julian was the proud recipient of a Certificate in Architectural Drawing the first of his race so honored. He further distinguished himself as winner of the Graff Prize for Architectural Design awarded to the top student in the evening atelier.
