2008 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

View of the exhibition “Captured Emotions: Baroque Painting in Bologna, 1575 – 1725”
at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
in 2008 treasures from their holdings were on display all
over the world, from Los Angeles to Beijing. International
exchanges of staff with other museums and research institutes
do not attract so much attention. Some examples of
this type of exchange during 2008 will be presented here.
A long-term exchange between the Dresden Kupferstich-
Kabinett and the Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte
(Centre Allemand d’Histoire de l’Art) in Paris was successfully
carried out. Dr. Claudia Schnitzer, a curator at the
Kupferstich-Kabinett, had the opportunity to conduct
basic research in Paris on art transfer between the French
capital and Dresden in the 18th century, a matter which is
of considerable importance with regard to 18th-century
courtly culture in general and for the history of the Dresden
Kupferstich-Kabinett in particular. In exchange, Dr. Tanja
Baensch, a researcher from the Paris Institute, was able to
gain valuable practical experience concerning museum
operations and the organisation of exhibitions in Dresden
during the same period. Especially in view of the jubilee
year 2010, this exchange provided a valuable contribution
to research on the history of the Dresden collections.
The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden have had
close and multifaceted relationships with the Getty Research
Institute and other institutions of the J. Paul Getty
Trust in Los Angeles for years now. Their links range from
joint restoration projects to exhibition exchanges. After a
Getty scholarship had previously enabled the Curator of
Italian Paintings at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dr.
Andreas Henning, to undertake several study visits to Italy,
in 2008 he was invited to Los Angeles as a “Museum
Scholar”. This gave support to his work on a systematic
catalogue of the Gallery’s holdings of Bolognese paintings
dating from the 16th to the 18th century. Some initial
findings were presented in an exhibition featuring a selection
of Bolognese paintings from Dresden at the J. Paul
Getty Museum in Los Angeles (see page 35).
For the past few years, the support of the Getty Trust has
also enabled a highly successful exchange programme to
be conducted with Russia under the title “Art Transfer – A
Research Project on German-Russian Cultural Relations
since the 17th Century”. This provides the opportunity for
German researchers to make study visits to Moscow or St.
Petersburg and for Russian researchers to spend time in
Dresden. Among other things, investigations are being
conducted into the history of the collection of Count Brühl,
which was purchased for St. Petersburg by the Russian
Tsarina in 1763. In 2009 this research project is due to reach
its conclusion for the time being.
Thanks to the generous award of a Nicholas & Judith
Goodison Scholarship, Dr. Jutta Kappel, Curator of the
Grünes Gewölbe, was able to participate, along with
other international art historians, in the Royal Collection
Studies course organised by the Attingham Trust.
An exchange programme which has been running for
several years and which is made possible by a scholarship
provided by Henry Arnhold, a native of Dresden who has
been living in New York since having to emigrate from
Germany, supports the continuous exchange of experience
between Dresden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This year the Director of Administration at the Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dirk Burghardt, was able to
benefit from this opportunity.
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