Therese Mirani

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Therese Mirani
Born(1824-12-02)2 December 1824
Prague, Bohemia, (now Czech Republic
Died24 May 1901(1901-05-24) (aged 76)
Vienna, Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary
Occupation(s)Embroider, teacher, writer
Known forDirector of the Imperial and Royal School for Art Embroidery
AwardsImperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment
HonoursZivil-Verdienstkreuz (Civil Service Cross)

Therese Mirani (2 December 1824 – 24 May 1901) was an embroiderer and teacher, who was director of the Imperial and Royal School for Art Embroidery of the Ministry of Commerce in Vienna. She invented a new type of lacework, points imperial, and a new technique of embroidery, broderie dentelle, which was collected by Empress Elisabeth of Austria. She was awarded an Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment.

Biography[edit]

Mirani was born on 2 December 1824 in Prague, Bohemia.[1] Her father was the writer Johann Heinrich Mirani (1802–73).[2] Interested in both the technique, theory and history of embroidery from a young age, Mirani related in later life that she always wanted to be self-employed and described herself as a "voluntary spinster".[3]

In 1863, she began to supply the royal court and, in 1865, she was awarded with an Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment.[2] She invented a new embroidery technique called broderie dentelle and a new type of lace known as points imperial.[2] Empress Elisabeth was a collector of Mirani's broderie dentelle works, and commissioned an altar-cloth using the technique for the church of St Stephen.[3] She was also a fashion advisor to the New Free Press,[2] and wrote on home decoration for Wiener Mode.[4]

In 1867, a sample of Mirani's white embroidery work was exhibited at the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie.[4][5] In the same year, she was awarded a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris and was the first woman on the Austrian jury.[2]

In 1874, she helped to found the Imperial and Royal School for Art Embroidery of the Ministry of Commerce in Vienna, and was one of its first teachers.[6] After the death of the director Emilie Bach (1840–1890), she became director.[3] The school was designed to enable women to produce high-quality Hausindustrie goods, and to provide opportunities for working class women.[7]

Upon her retirement in 1899, she was awarded the Civil Service Cross (de).[8] She died on 24 May 1901 in Vienna.[1]

Historiography[edit]

Historian Rebecca Houze has described how Mirani "helped shape the direction of design reform in Vienna".[6] Design historian Jeremy Aynsley described both Mirani and Emilie Bach as "overlooked figures" in the history of Arts and Crafts schools and the development of the subject in Austria.[9]

References[edit]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  1. ^ a b "Therese Mirani | Frauen in Bewegung 1848–1938". fraueninbewegung.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  2. ^ a b c d e H. Meißner:  Mirani, Therese. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 6, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7, OCLC 462082204, p. 314.
  3. ^ a b c Gertrud, Herzog-Hauser (1925-04-17). "Therese Mirani". Essays.
  4. ^ a b Houze, R. (2008-01-01). "At the Forefront of a Newly Emerging Profession? Ethnography, Education and the Exhibition of Women's Needlework in Austria-Hungary in the Late Nineteenth Century". Journal of Design History. 21 (1): 19–40. doi:10.1093/jdh/epm040. ISSN 0952-4649.
  5. ^ "Geschichte - MAK Museum Wien". www.mak.at (in German). Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  6. ^ a b Houze, Rebecca (2017-07-05). "Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform in Austria-Hungary Before the First World War ": Principles of Dress. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-54688-1.
  7. ^ Veszprémi, Nóra. "Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform in Austria-Hungary before the First World War: Principles of Dress."[dead link] Journal of Art Historiography 13 (2015): 1.
  8. ^ Brandow-Faller, Megan Marie (2010). An art of their own: Reinventing 'Frauenkunst' in the female academies and artist leagues of late-Imperial and First Republic Austria, 1900–1930 (Thesis). ProQuest 288142469.
  9. ^ Aynsley, Jeremy (2016). "Rebecca Houze. Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform in Austria-Hungary before the First World War. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015. Pp. 383, illus". Austrian History Yearbook. 47: 219–220. doi:10.1017/S0067237816000308. ISSN 0067-2378. S2CID 148261938.
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