The origins of the museum can be traced back to the Kunstkammer founded in 1560. However, it was August the Strong who established the “Collection of Antique and Modern Sculptures” and turned Dresden into a centre of Baroque architecture and sculpture.[1]
After the arrival of antiquities from Rome at the end of 1729, the collection was displayed in the palace in the Großer Garten, surrounded by masterpieces of contemporary sculpture. In 1786 the collection was rearranged and exhibited in the Japanisches Palais. After the archaeologist Georg Treu (1843–1921) took over as director of the museum in 1882, the collection particularly flourished. Over the three decades of his tenure, Treu instituted a systematic acquisitions policy to build up the collection. The Renaissance Zeughaus (Arsenal) on the Brühlsche Terrasse was converted for use as a museum and in 1889 the Antiquities Collection was able to move into the building, which was thereafter called the Albertinum. Treu continued the tradition of displaying antiquities alongside contemporary works. The collection was the first to acquire numerous works by Auguste Rodin and Constantin Meunier in Germany.[1]
Although the Albertinum was partially destroyed in February 1945, most of the collection survived the Second World War, but for some large plaster casts. Almost all the original sculptures were taken to the Soviet Union, but were returned to Dresden in 1958. Following the restoration and refurbishment of the Albertinum, the Skulpturensammlung and the Galerie Neue Meister will only now display works from the Romantic period to the present day. The antiquities will be on view in display storerooms until they are able to move back into their old home in a few years’ time. The Osthalle (eastern wing) of the Semperbau was designed in the mid-19th century by Gottfried Semper specifically for the antique sculpture collection.[1]
Exhibition
Auguste Rodin, The Thinker
The exhibition of the Skulpturensammlung begins with works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. He heralded the age of modern statuary and sculpture and is regarded as the forerunner of the numerous styles developed during the 20th century. The sculpture of the classical modern period and post-1945 exhibited in the Albertinum amplifies Rodin’s principle of the subjectivity of art. This principle continues to be visible within the contemporary sculpture of today. The exhibition also pays particular attention to art created during the GDR era through works by artists such as Wieland Förster, Werner Stötzer, and Helmut Heinze.[2]
The Albertinum now includes two new galleries displaying works of a specific theme. The Klingersaal was designed by the Skulpturensammlung and the Galerie Neue Meister as a space in which both sculpture and paintings can be harmoniously exhibited together. The Klingersaal is devoted to the art of the late 19th century movement the ‘Fin de siècle’. The ‘Fin de Siècle’ movement is illustrated through various works by Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger to those of Franz von Stuck and Sascha Schneider. The Mosaiksaal is dedicated to the theme of morality, which is exemplified by sculptures from the Classicist period with the particular emphasis of those by Ernst Rietschel.[2]
The Skulpturensammlung holds works dating from more than five millennia: from the cultures of classical antiquity to the various periods of European statuary from the early Middle Ages to the sculpture of today. In a few years’ time, the core holdings of the collection, with the inclusion of the Antiquities Collection (comprising sculptures such as the “Dresden Boy”, as well as vases, bronzes, and terracotta), will be presented in a new exhibition within the Osthalle (eastern wing) of the Semper Building. The Osthalle was originally designed by Gottfried Semper to house the classical sculpture collection. Until that time, visitors may get a preview of the future exhibition by looking in the experimental display storeroom on the ground floor of the Albertinum, where a selection of the Antiquities Collection is currently on display.[2]
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection represents the private art collection of Carl Jacobsen (1842–1914), the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries.
The Musée Rodin of Paris, France, is an art museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as well as just outside Paris at Rodin's old home, the Villa des Brillants at Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine. The collection includes 6,600 sculptures, 8,000 drawings, 8,000 old photographs and 7,000 objets d'art. The museum receives 700,000 visitors annually.
The Kiss is an 1882 marble sculpture by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.
Ernst Julius Hähnel was a German sculptor and Professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.
The National Gallery Prague, formerly the National Gallery in Prague, is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Czech and international fine art in permanent and temporary exhibitions. The collections of the gallery are not housed in a single building, but are presented in a number of historic structures within the city of Prague, as well as other places. The largest of the gallery sites is the Trade Fair Palace, which houses the National Gallery's collection of modern art. Other important exhibition spaces are located in the Convent of St Agnes of Bohemia, the Kinský Palace, the Salm Palace, the Schwarzenberg Palace, the Sternberg Palace, and the Wallenstein Riding School. Founded in 1796, it is one of the world's oldest public art galleries and one of the largest museums in Central Europe.
The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch and Flemish paintings. Outstanding works by German, French, and Spanish painters of the period are also among the gallery's attractions.
The Albertinum is a modern art museum. The sandstone-clad Renaissance Revival building is located on Brühl's Terrace in the historic center of Dresden, Germany. It is named after King Albert of Saxony.
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is a cultural institution in Dresden, Germany, owned by the State of Saxony. It is one of the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the collections of the Saxon electors in the 16th century.
Georges Petit was a French art dealer, a key figure in the Paris art world and an important promoter and cultivator of Impressionist artists.
Georg Treu was a Classical archaeologist and curator of the sculpture collection at the Albertinum.
Cantor Arts Center is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, United States.
The Galerie Neue Meister in Dresden, Germany, displays around 300 paintings from the 19th century until today, including works from Otto Dix, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. The gallery also exhibits a number of sculptures from the Dresden Sculpture Collection from the same period. The museum's collection grew out of the Old Masters Gallery, for which contemporary works were increasingly purchased after 1843.
The Liebieghaus is a late 19th-century villa in Frankfurt, Germany. It contains a sculpture museum, the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, which is part of the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. The collection comprises some 3,000 sculptures, spanning over 5,000 years of culture.
The Semper Gallery or Semper Building in Dresden, Germany, was designed by the architect Gottfried Semper and constructed from 1847 until 1854.
Joseph Brummer was a Hungarian-born art dealer and collector who exhibited both antique artifacts from different cultures, early European art, and the works of modern painters and sculptors in his galleries in Paris and New York. In 1906 he and his two brothers opened their first gallery in Paris, the Brummer Gallery. At the start of World War I, they closed the gallery and moved to New York City. Joseph alone opened his next gallery in 1921 in Manhattan.
Springtime or The Reader is an 1872 painting by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. It depicts his first wife, Camille Doncieux, seated reading beneath a canopy of lilacs. The painting is presently held by the Walters Art Museum.
Thomas Reichstein is a German sculptor.
Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev was a Russian art historian, archaeologist and Classical philologist.
Iris, Messenger of the Gods is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin. A plaster model, created between 1891 and 1894, was cast in bronze by Fonderie Rudier at various times from about 1895. Iris is depicted with her right hand clasping her right foot and her naked body posed provocatively with her legs spread wide, displaying her genitalia.
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