Master Drawings
03 Oct 2009 - 01 Jan 2010
MASTER DRAWINGS
3. October 2009 - 1. January 2010
Kunstmuseum Basel
Curators: Anita Haldemann & Christian Müller
With its approximately 60,000 drawings and 250,000 prints, the Kupferstichkabinett (Department of Prints and Drawings) of the Kunstmuseum Basel is among the world’s most important and oldest collections of its kind. Although German and Swiss art of the 15th and 16th centuries (Holbein family, Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht and Erhard Altdorfer, Hans Leu, Urs Graf, Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, etc.) form a major focus of the collection, holdings of 17th- to 21st-century works range far past the region, to include Italian, French, Belgian and Netherlandish art, and – thanks to the collection of 20th- and 21st-century American drawings and prints – past the boundaries of Europe as well. Basel’s Kupferstichkabinett is characterised by its concentration on assembling groups of drawings. Its curators have never been interested in acquiring individual works by as many artists as possible: they have striven to bring in whole groups of works. And it is this approach that has given the collection its unique profile. Again and again the tradition established by Basilius Amerbach (1533–1591) has been invoked: a very early collector, Amerbach united large sets of drawings by artists of the Upper Rhine region in his collection (the City of Basel purchased the collection, the so-called Amerbach- Kabinett, in 1661, laying the foundation for the museums of Basel). The 100 drawings featured in the exhibition are among the Kupferstichkabinett’s most eminent masterpieces. The catalogue will include a commented illustration of each work. The introduction will tell the story of the Kupferstichkabinett, from its beginnings in the Amerbach-Kabinett through its various stops in the “Zur Mücke” House and Museum an der Augustinergasse and on to its present home in the Kunstmuseum Basel.
3. October 2009 - 1. January 2010
Kunstmuseum Basel
Curators: Anita Haldemann & Christian Müller
With its approximately 60,000 drawings and 250,000 prints, the Kupferstichkabinett (Department of Prints and Drawings) of the Kunstmuseum Basel is among the world’s most important and oldest collections of its kind. Although German and Swiss art of the 15th and 16th centuries (Holbein family, Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht and Erhard Altdorfer, Hans Leu, Urs Graf, Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, etc.) form a major focus of the collection, holdings of 17th- to 21st-century works range far past the region, to include Italian, French, Belgian and Netherlandish art, and – thanks to the collection of 20th- and 21st-century American drawings and prints – past the boundaries of Europe as well. Basel’s Kupferstichkabinett is characterised by its concentration on assembling groups of drawings. Its curators have never been interested in acquiring individual works by as many artists as possible: they have striven to bring in whole groups of works. And it is this approach that has given the collection its unique profile. Again and again the tradition established by Basilius Amerbach (1533–1591) has been invoked: a very early collector, Amerbach united large sets of drawings by artists of the Upper Rhine region in his collection (the City of Basel purchased the collection, the so-called Amerbach- Kabinett, in 1661, laying the foundation for the museums of Basel). The 100 drawings featured in the exhibition are among the Kupferstichkabinett’s most eminent masterpieces. The catalogue will include a commented illustration of each work. The introduction will tell the story of the Kupferstichkabinett, from its beginnings in the Amerbach-Kabinett through its various stops in the “Zur Mücke” House and Museum an der Augustinergasse and on to its present home in the Kunstmuseum Basel.