ABSTRACT
Around 1900 the principles of instructional treatment of works of fine art in schools deeply changed away from looking at images as auxiliary tools toward conveying the formal and substantive qualities of works of art. The starting point of this development was the wide dissemination of all kinds of art-historical printed matter. The availability of reasonably priced book series and portfolios of reproductions grew rapidly. What emerged was a market for cheap images. Publishing houses expressed the goal to bring the uneducated into closer contact with “high art”. Persuading the masses to “painterly vision” or empathy was seen as one of the most important aspects of popular education. This applied to German households as well as to schools. Those who hoped to profit from this development sold art reproductions as the new medium of aesthetic edification. The contribution examines the impact of these “cheap images” in school practice after 1900.
