The Kölner Werkschulen (Cologne Academy of Fine and Applied Arts), formerly Cologne Art and Craft Schools, was a university in Cologne training artists in visual arts, architecture and design from 1926 to 1971.
The origins of the Kölner Werkschulen can be found in the Sunday school established by the painter Egidius Mengelberg in 1822 at the Jesuit buildings. This was incorporated into the "Royal Prussian Provincial Vocational School Cologne" founded in 1833. In 1910 Emil Thormählen came to Cologne to develop a School of Applied Arts as part of the German Werkbund movement. However his plans to build a new school building had to be postponed due to the outbreak of war in 1914. When the plans could not be taken forward immediately after the war, Thormählen retired November 1919. In April 1924, the architect Martin Elsaesser was the director of the school and designed a "Red House", an expressionist, red brick building on Ubierring 40.
In 1926 the school was reorganized and the Mayor, Konrad Adenauer, designated it the "Cologne Werkschulen", in accordance with the Bauhaus point of view. He said, "Bonn is for science (= University) and Dusseldorf for Art (= Academy) but in Cologne I want both." Adenauer got his way by 1919 with the University of Cologne, and in 1924 with his Cologne art school (Werkschulen), with both buildings almost within sight of each other.
1879–1906: Friedrich Romberg, engineer
1906–1910: Gustav Halmhuber, architect and painter
1910–1919, Emil Thormählen, painter and architect
1920–1926: Martin Elsässer, architect
1926–1931: Richard Riemerschmid, painter, architect and designer
1931–1933: Karl With, art historian
1933–1945: Karl Berthold, goldsmith
1946–1957: August Hoff, art historian
1958–1965: Friedrich Vordemberge, painter
1965–1971: Werner Schriefers, painter and designer
Martin Elsaesser (1920–1925)
Dominikus Böhm (1926–1934/1947–1953)
Richard Riemerschmid (1926–1931)
Stefan Leuer (1954–1978)
Georg Lünenborg (1948–1967)
Gernot Lucas (1969–2003)
Wolf Nöhren (1970–1973)
Johan Thorn Prikker (1926–1932)
Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann (1928–1933)
Richard Seewald (1924–1931)
Otto Gerster (1939–1972)
Stefan Wewerka (1975–1993)
Daniel Spoerri (1978–1982)
Hans Rolf Maria Koller (1963–1973)
Dieter Kraemer (1963–1993)
Friedrich Vordemberge (1946–1976)
Dieter Horký (1971–1993)
Karl Marx (1959–1986)
Wilhelm Teuwen (1946–1967)
Elisabeth Vary (1964–1970–1993)
Werner Schriefers (1965–1989)
Gerhard Kadow (1967–1974)
Franz Dank (1961–1993)
Hubert Schaffmeister (1952–1976)
Anton Berger (1964–1989)
Hans Karl Burgeff (1968–1988)
Ludwig Gies (1950–1962)
Georg Grasegger (1901–1927)
Josef Jaekel (1947–1975)
Dorkas Reinacher-Härlin (1924–1929)
Titus Reinarz (1981–1992)
Kurt Schwippert (1963–1968)
Wolfgang Wallner (1912–1950)
Hans Wissel (1925–1933)
Richard Riemerschmid (1926–1931)
Jakob Erbar (1926–1933)
Heinrich Hußmann (1928–1965)
Alfred Will (1929–1933/1946–1971)
Anton Wolff (1942–1976)
Jürgen Klauke (1970–1975)
Heinz Edelmann (1976–1978)
Ernst Riegel (1913–1933)
Elisabeth Treskow (1948–1964)
Arno Jansen (1965–2003)
Wilhelm Lotz
Karl With (1925–1928/1931–1933)
August Hoff (1946–1957)
Ceramics and industrial design
Dorkas Reinacher-Härlin (1924–1929)
Ludwig König (1930–1933)
Georg Roth (1924–1964)
Walter Maria Kersting (1927–1932)
Herbert Schultes (1968–1970)
Bazon Brock (art theory)
Birgit Hein (film)
Wulf Herzogenrath (art settlement)
Friedrich Wolfram Heubach (psychology)
Jörg Immendorff (painting)
Leo Kofler (sociology)
Ingo Kümmel (art dealing)
Ulrike Rosenbach (video action)
Günter Karl Friedrich Schwichtenberg (cybernetics)
Heinz Bienefeld
Johannes Krahn
Ingeborg Drews
Hellmuth Eichner
Joseph Fassbender
Edvard Frank
Jürgen Hans Grümmer
Hildegard Grunert
Dieter Horký
Ulla Horký
Ida Köhne
Jean Lessenich
Joseph Mader
Wolfgang Niedecken
Anton Räderscheidt
Wolfgang Schulte
Franz Wilhelm Seiwert
Udo Sellbach
Wolfgang Siemens
Helga Tiemann
Rosemarie Trockel
Günther Umberg
Kurt Wegner
Willy Weyres
Georg J. Ahrens
Raimund Böll
Kurt-Wolf von Borries
Hilde Broër
Hubert Bruhs
Heinz Feuerborn
Peter Raacke
Titus Reinarz
Wolfgang Reuter
Ulrich Rückriem
Gretel Schulte-Hostedde
Will Burtin
Thomas F. Fischer
Walter Hanel
Jürgen Klauke
Maurilio Minuzzi
Eduard Prüssen
Maf Räderscheidt
Konrad Schaefer
Helmut Tollmann
Chargesheimer
Fritz Gruber
Candida Höfer
Burkhard Jüttner
