2008 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Opening of the exhibition “Von Friedrich bis Dix” (From Friedrich to Dix) in
the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, with (from left to right) Prof. Dr. Martin Roth,
Dr. Eva-Maria Stange, Saxon State Minister for Science and Art, and Prof. Dr.
Michael Piotrowski, Director of the State Hermitage
22 rebuilding of Dresden and its art collections would not
have been possible, says Martin Roth; Dresden would look
very different today. The collaboration with St. Petersburg
and the Hermitage is also, however, a contribution to longterm
dialogue between the institutions and to the preparation
of research projects and future exhibitions.
Finally, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister held an exhibition
in Los Angeles, in which it displayed 27 masterpieces
of Bolognese painting, one of its collecting focal points,
along with paintings from the J. Paul Getty Museum and
other Californian collections. Just a few days later at the
Getty Villa in Malibu, part of the J. Paul Getty Museum, an
exhibition opened which was devoted to the sensational
restoration and reinterpretation of a severely damaged
statue of Bacchus belonging to the Dresden Skulpturensammlung.
Here, too, the exhibition was the result of
collaboration between researchers and restorers from Los
Angeles and Dresden, who were able to build upon the
experience gathered in the previous joint project concerning
the “Herculaneum Women”. Following their restoration
in the Berlin Antikensammlung, a comprehensive monograph
concerning these famous statues from the Skulpturensammlung
was published by the Getty, first in English
and now also in German. Until October 2008 the statues
were on display in the Getty Villa and were seen there by
230,000 visitors.
Whilst Martin Roth hopes for greater normality in the
partnerships with the Eastern European states and even
sees great further potential with regard to partners in
Western Europe, in order perhaps in future to be able to
create joint institutions, joint advisory bodies and boards,
Signing of the partnership agreement with the J. Paul Getty Trust on 25th July 2008 in Dresden:
with Prof. Dr. Martin Roth (seated, left) and Dr. Michael Brand, Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum
in Los Angeles (seated, right), in the presence of (standing, from left to right) Dirk Burghardt,
Director of Administration at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Prof. Dr. Thomas W.
Gaehtgens, Director of the Getty Research Institute, James Wood, President of the J. Paul Getty
Trust, and Dr. Andreas Henning, Curator of Italian Paintings at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
and even to build joint collections, he also sees collaboration
with museums outside Europe, such as in Japan or
America, as an opportunity to draw attention to Dresden
and to German culture in general, in addition to conducting
joint research and exhibition projects. With their
treasures, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden are
eminently suitable for taking on that role.
israel – Azerbaijan – Taiwan
In addition to their presentations abroad, the Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen also played host in Dresden to exhibitions
by partners from other countries. From early March
to the beginning of May 2008 an unusual multimedia
presentation by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial
Centre in Israel was on view in the Residenzschloss. This
impressive show, which illustrated how Jewish women
responded to the extreme circumstances of violence and
oppression, how they struggled to survive and endeavoured
to preserve their identity as human beings and as women,
was on display for the first time outside Israel and attracted
great interest among the visitors. In order to be
able to bring more and larger exhibitions by the Yad
Vashem Memorial Centre and to encourage school students
and young people, in particular, to engage with them, two
members of the Museum Education department from
Dresden were invited to take part in a ten-day further
education course in Israel immediately after the exhibition.
From mid-June to mid-July 2008 another exhibition was
held in the Residenzschloss, this time featuring contemporary
art from Azerbaijan. With various artistic items, the