The Kupferstichkabinett was officially founded in 1831, with a collection of drawings and watercolours acquired by Frederick William I in 1652 at its core.[3] It was first housed in the Altes Museum beside the collections of Old Master paintings and Classical sculpture from ancient Greece and Rome, as exemplars of "High Art". The collection grew throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with the addition of Medieval, Renaissance and later works, including drawings by Albrecht Dürer and Matthias Grünewald, Sandro Botticelli's illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy (purchased in 1882), and the estate of Adolph Menzel.[3] Prominent members of former staff include Max Lehrs.
In 1986 the Kupferstichkabinett took over the graphics collection of the National Gallery of Berlin, whose emphasis was on 20th-century prints, including Expressionist works that the Nazis had classified as "degenerate" and confiscated. In 1994 it opened in a new building in the Kulturforum, reuniting the parts of the collection that had been split between East and West Berlin together with the National Gallery's collection.
Some of the works on paper are stored in other Berlin collections that have a relevant theme, such as the Ethnological and Asian Art Museums, the Art Library, and the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection. The works in the Kupferstichkabinett cannot be permanently displayed, due to the size of the collection and the air- and light-sensitivity of works on paper; however, the museum holds regular temporary exhibitions.[1]
The museum's patrons primarily include the Graphische Gesellschaft zu Berlin - Vereinigung der Freunde des Kupferstichkabinetts e. V. (Berlin Graphic Society - Association of Friends of the Museum of Prints and Drawings).[5] The association has existed since 1997, it supports the expansion of the collection, arranges donations and acquires individual works according to the recommendations of the director of the Kupferstichkabinett.
Other activities
The Kupferstichkabinett carries out research and conservation activities and has its own Conservation Advisory Council. Particular candidates for preservation include the bound handwritten works from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, large 19th-century cartoons (e.g. by Peter von Cornelius), and technically complex contemporary works. Other subjects of research include silverpoint drawings and drawings by Grünewald. There is also a continually updated index of watermarks to assist in the dating of works on paper.[6]
↑ Tillack-Graf, Anne-Kathleen (2004). Das Denkmal für Friedrich den Großen von Friedrich Gilly 1796 (in German). Munich.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Bevers, Holm: Rembrandt - die Zeichnungen im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett: kritischer Katalog. Begleitet von der Ausstellung Rembrandt. Der Zeichner, Kupferstichkabinett - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 4. August bis 5. November 2006, Verlag Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2006. (in German)
Bevers, Holm: Zeichnungen der Rembrandtschule im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett: kritischer Katalog, mit einem Beitrag von Georg Josef Dietz und Antje Penz sowie 37 Illustrationen, Verlag Sandstein Kommunikation GmbH, Dresden 2018. (in German)
Dückers, Alexander (editor): Das Berliner Kupferstichkabinett. Akademie, 1994. ISBN3-05-002488-7. (in German)
Dückers, Alexander (Hrsg.) / Achenbach, Sigrid: Das Berliner Kupferstichkabinett, ein Handbuch zur Sammlung; das Handbuch erscheint aus Anlass der Ausstellung Vereint im Neuen Haus - Meisterwerke aus Zehn Jahrhunderten im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett, herausgegeben von den Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 1994, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1994. (in German)
Giesecke, Alber: Handzeichnungen venezianischer Meister des 18. Jahrhunderts im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett. Die Kunstwelt, Deutsche Zeitschrift für die bildende Kunst, Jg. 1912/1913, S. 265–278. (Website)
Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar David Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of the 19th century, and was the most successful artist of his era in Germany. First known as Adolph Menzel, he was knighted in 1898 and changed his name to Adolph von Menzel.
The Altes Museum is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. Built between 1825 and 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it is considered a major work of German Neoclassical architecture. It is surrounded by the Berlin Cathedral to the east, the Berlin Palace to the south and the Zeughaus to the west. Currently, the Altes Museum houses the Antikensammlung and parts of the Münzkabinett. As part of the Museum Island complex, the Altes Museum was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, in recognition of its testimony to the development of the museum as a social and architectural phenomenon.
Friedrich David Gilly was a German architect and the son of the architect David Gilly. His works are influenced by revolutionary architecture (Revolutionsarchitektur). Born in Altdamm, Pomerania,, Gilly was known as a prodigy and the teacher of the young Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
The Städel, officially the Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 photographs and more than 100,000 drawings and prints. It has around 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) of display and a library of 115,000 books.
The Alte Nationalgalerie is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler and Johann Heinrich Strack in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles. The building's outside stair features a memorial to Frederick William IV. Currently, the Alte Nationalgalerie is home to paintings and sculptures of the 19th century and hosts a variety of tourist buses daily. As part of the Museum Island complex, the gallery was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 for its outstanding architecture and its testimony to the development of museums and galleries as a cultural phenomenon in the late 19th century.
The Prussian Academy of Arts was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Prussia.
The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters; several research institutes; libraries; and supporting facilities. They are overseen by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and funded by the German federal government in collaboration with Germany's federal states. The central complex on Museum Island was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1999. By 2007, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin had grown into the largest complex of museums in Europe. The museum was originally founded by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia in 1823 as the Königliche Museen.
Mark Lammert, is a German painter, illustrator, graphic artist and stage designer. He lives and works in Berlin.
The Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich (München), Germany, is a large collection of drawings, prints and engravings. It contains 400,000 sheets starting from the 15th century from various artists around the world. Along with Kupferstichkabinett Berlin and Kupferstichkabinett Dresden, it is the most important collection of its kind in Germany. It is owned by the government of Bavaria and located within the Kunstareal, a museum quarter in the city centre of Munich.
The National Gallery in Berlin, Germany, is a museum for art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is part of the Berlin State Museums. From the Alte Nationalgalerie, which was built for it and opened in 1876, its exhibition space has expanded to include five other locations. The museums are part of the Berlin State Museums, owned by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
Hana Usui is a Japanese artist.
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Karl Günther Ernst Felix Becker was a German art historian, best known today for the project Thieme-Becker.
Friedrich Horst Winkler was a German art historian specialised in German art, especially the works of Albrecht Dürer, and Early Netherlandish painting from the 15th and 16th century.
Jakob Rosenberg was an art historian, museum curator, and educator who is noted particularly for published work on Rembrandt. He was active in Germany until his 1937 emigration to the United States, where he joined the faculty of Harvard University. In addition to his professorship he was the curator of prints at the Fogg Museum. Rosenberg retired in 1964, but continued his scholarly activities until his 1980 death in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Friedrich Lippmann was a German art historian and director of the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin State Museums, noted for his work on Dürer, Holbein and Italian 15th-century woodcuts. Max Jakob Friedländer, who was later to become the noted scholar Early Netherlandish painting and the Northern Renaissance, worked under Lippmann in 1891 as a volunteer assisting with Lippmann's graphics collection.
Marianne Schmidl was first woman to graduate with a doctorate in ethnology from the University of Vienna. An Austrian ethnologist, teacher, librarian and art collector, Schmidl was plundered and murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazis because of her Jewish origins.
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