Bess Mensendieck

Bess Mensendieck (1 July 1864 New York City – 27 January 1957, born Elizabeth Marguerite de Varel Mensendieck) was an American physician and gymnastics teacher of Dutch descent who developed the Mensendieck System, a therapeutic teaching methodology for female physical education claimed to be both corrective and preventive. She was one of the most important founders of early breathing and physical pedagogy in Europe and America.

Mensendieck published several books on the subject starting with the German publication titled Körperkultur des Weibes (Physical Culture of Women) with practical hygienic and aesthetic tips, 1906.

Life Photo: Mensendieck School in Oslo, Norway, women student physiotherapists training the Mensendieck System, 1950s. Now named the Mensendieckschool in Oslo College of Physiotherapy. Mensendieck grew up in New York City and studied medicine in Zurich. To complete her practical knowledge of movement, posture, and breathing, she took singing lessons in Paris and continued to study gymnastics with Genevieve Stebbins in New York. Here she also learned the movement systems of François Delsarte and the Swedish remedial gymnastics of Pehr Henrik Ling.

Her particular concern was the improvement of posture and muscle structure of the women of her time. Based on her medical background, she built her gymnastics according to the Mensendieck system strictly on the anatomical and physiological findings of the time. The focus of the bodywork was again and again on the self-perception of posture and movement. However, because of the nude content, her published work was not equally accessible in the same way in all countries.

Mensendieck's books had a pervasive influence on German women instructors of gym classes into the 1930s.

Works published Germany Körperkultur des Weibes. Praktisch hygienische und praktisch ästhetische Winke.

Gallery Norway Mensendieck School in Oslo, Norway, 1950s, photos show women student physiotherapists training the Mensendieck System. The private college was established for Mensendieck-based physiotherapist education in Oslo in 1927 under the name Norsk Mensendieckskole A/S and was taken over by the Norwegian state in 1979. In 1992, the Mensendieck School was incorporated into the Bislet University College Center (Bislet høgskolesenter) and named the Mensendieckschool in Oslo College of Physiotherapy. From August 1994, it became part of the Department of Health Sciences at the newly established Oslo University College, now Oslo Metropolitan University. The education was called bachelor in physiotherapy, field of study Mensendieck, but was discontinued in 2020.