Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

set of drawing implements from the
Dresden Kunstkammer, c. 1580,
Mathematisch-Physikalischer salon
to the model of the Temple and the
former “Juden­Cabinet“.
• Das besondere Kunstwerk in der
Rüstkammer
Schwert, Rapier und Linkehanddolch –
Zeugnisse virtuoser Fechtkunst in der
Rüstkammer (Special Works of Art in the
Rüstkammer: Sword, Rapier and Lefthand
Dagger – Testimony to Fencing
Expertise in the Rüstkammer)
Semper Building at the Zwinger
6th July – 31st October, 2010
The Dresden Rüstkammer holds top quality
weapons which illustrate the development
of fencing arms from the sword to
the rapier. The broad, double edged blade
of the sword is mainly intended for cutting,
whereas the long, narrow, pointed
blade of the rapier, which developed in
the 16th century, is mainly intended for
thrusting. The sword was used against
armoured knights in man­to­man combat.
The rapier served as a weapon for knights
in a civilian context, such as at court.
• Hermann Glöckner. Werke bis 1945
(Hermann Glöckner. Works up to 1945)
Exhibition by the Kupferstich-Kabinett
Residenzschloss
28th August – 7th November, 2010
Hermann Glöckner’s predilection for geometrical
objects is evident throughout his
entire oeuvre. Even in his early drawings,
the compositional lines structuring his
Hermann Glöckner, Grey Chimney,
1931, Kupferstich-Kabinett
images already point to the principle
which was later to inform his “Tafelwerk”
and led him later, in the post­1945 period,
to create his folded sculptures and threedimensional
objects. The exhibition in the
Dresden Kupferstich­Kabinett focused on
the development of this design vocabulary
from its intuitive beginnings to its
later comprehensive exploration.
• Der frühe Vermeer (The Early Vermeer)
Exhibition by the Gemäldegalerie
Alte Meister
Semper Building at the Zwinger
3rd September – 28th November, 2010
For the first time after their restoration,
the early works of Jan Vermeer (1632 –
1675) were displayed together in an exhibition,
a cooperative venture between the
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, the Mauritshuis
in The Hague and the National
Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. This was
a unique opportunity to see the early
works of Vermeer, to which little regard
had been paid in the past, reunited in an
exhibition. Rarely exhibited works held by
the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and
loans from national and international museums
and private collections gave a profound
insight into the early phase of Vermeer’s
development as an artist. A special
section of the exhibition was devoted
to a key work in the artist’s oeuvre: his
“Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window”
(c. 1657 – 1659).
Johannes Vermeer, The Procuress,
1656, Gemäldegalerie alte Meister
• Genau messen = Herrschaft verorten.
Das Reißgemach von Kurfürst August, ein
Zentrum der Geodäsie und Kartographie
(Princely Map-making – Delineating the
Contours of Power. The Drafting Chamber
of Elector August, Centre of Geodesy and
Cartography)
Exhibition by the Mathematisch-Physikalischer
Salon in cooperation with the
Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden
Exhibition in the Neues Grünes Gewölbe,
Sponsel­Raum
23rd September, 2010 – 23rd January, 2011
To measure accurately means to define
the extent of one’s power – even Elector
August of Saxony was familiar with this
principle. As early as 1587 the Kunstkammer,
which he had established in 1560,
already contained almost 1,000 mathematical
and technical devices as well as
numerous survey plans and maps of
Saxony drawn in his own hand. The tools
and scientific instruments stored in the
Reißgemach (drafting chamber) for the
personal use of the Elector were at the
cutting edge of contemporary technology
and satisfied the demands of a princely
collection in terms of representation and
prestige. Taking as its basis the splendid
documents produced as a result of land
surveys commissioned or even carried out
by the Elector both within and outside
Saxony, the exhibition showed its visitors
the connection between the granting of
the electoral privilege to the Albertine line
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