Kupferstichkabinett Berlin

The Print Room is part of the Berlin State Museums of Berlin and the Cultural Forum at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin's Tiergarten district of Mitte. It is the largest museum of graphic arts in Germany and one of the four most important collections of its kind in the world. In his inventory there are more than 500,000 prints and 110,000 other works of art on paper, so drawings, pastels, watercolors and oil sketches.

History

The official founding of Prints and Drawings, and thus the beginning of systematic collecting activities carried 1831st Historical core of the collection was a stock of about 2,500 drawings and watercolors, which were acquired in 1652 by Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg and preserved in the Imperial Library. The expansion of the collection in the 19th century mostly done by the purchase of important private collections. Essential for the nationwide application of Prints and Drawings was the acquisition of the collection of the General Postmaster Karl Ferdinand Friedrich von Nagler in 1835. The collection contains more than 50,000 works, especially printmaking from the 15th to the 17th century as well as drawings by Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald and other old German masters. In the next few decades came more high-quality stocks in the possession of the Cabinet, including 1882 drawings Sandro Botticelli's Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

For a long time German drawings from the 19th and 20th centuries were collected in Berlin mainly from the National Gallery, including from the estate of Adolph Menzel's 6,000 graphic works. The drawing collection of the National Gallery in 1986 was affiliated with the Graphic Collection. There you had after the Second World War, the stocks of printmaking of the 20th century supplemented with precedence - for example, from expressionist works that had gone defamed during the time of National Socialism as "degenerate" and lost. In 1994, the new building of the Print Room was opened Potsdamer Platz at the Cultural Forum. Here the split during the German division between East and West stocks of the collection were brought together again, together with the collection of the National Gallery.

Collection

The focus of the collection is European prints and drawings from the Middle Ages to the present. Represented are also manuscripts with book painting from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, portfolios, sketchbooks, topographical representations and printing plates. Drawings and Prints Early Italian, German and Dutch artists and works of the 19th century are present in very large numbers and high quality; they represent artists such as Mantegna and Botticelli, Dürer, Altdorfer, Grunewald and Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, Rembrandt and Tiepolo, Chodowiecke, Caspar David Friedrich, Schinkel and Menzel. More focus of the collection: Classic Modernism ( with Munch, Kirchner, Picasso), Pop Art ( with Richard Hamilton, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella), Conceptual Art and Minimal Art addition find selected - working in Berlin - Representatives of contemporary art attention.

Works on paper are kept in accordance with the character of the particular collection in other museums in Berlin - at the Ethnological Museum and Asian, in the Art Library and the Collection Scharf -Gerstenberg. Because of the large size of the collection and the relatively high sensitivity of the individual pieces, the art of the print room can not be continually presented. There are, however, shown some temporary exhibitions of works from its own holdings annually in addition to special exhibitions. In addition, interested parties may be viewed in a study hall work of their own choice and judge in the original.

Among the supporters of the museum belongs primarily the Graphic Society of Berlin - Association of Friends of Prints and Drawings eV The association was founded in 1997, he supported the expansion of the collection, provides donations and purchases individual works according to the recommendations of the Director of Prints and Drawings.

Research and Restoration

The art of Prints and Drawings are documented according to the respective current state of scientific knowledge, stored and, if necessary, treated. A Conservation Advisory Council of the Museum is a consultant. For the intense domestic and international lending, the light - and climate- sensitive drawings and printmaking sheets must be carefully prepared. These include special assemblies, detailed protocols and appropriate framing.

Special areas for restoration efforts include the bound manuscripts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the large-format design boxes of wall paintings from the 19th century (such as by Peter von Cornelius ) or technically complex works of contemporary art. A constantly updated index of watermark supports research in the field of Paper Science and the dating of works of art on paper. An example of long- term research projects is the careful examination of silverpoint drawings, an interdisciplinary project with the Rathgen Research Laboratory ( RF), the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing ( BAM) and the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration of the Musée de France ( C2RMF ) is operated. At the examination of individual drawings by Matthias Grünewald the RF and the State Academy of Fine Arts are involved in Stuttgart ( SABK ) except the Graphic Collection.