
Address:
Art Collection of the University of Göttingen
Photographic Collection
Nikolausberger Weg 15
37073 Göttingen
www.kunstsammlung.uni-goettingen.de
Public exhibition: only as part of special exhibitions.
Guided tours and consultations: by appointment.
Contact person:
Dr. Anne-Katrin Sors
Phone: 0551 39-25093, -25092, -25098
E-mail: kunsts@gwdg.de
Under the management of Friedrich Wilhlem Unger, who worked for the art collection from 1863 to 1876, and Rudolf Hermann Lotze (1817-1881), a number of photographs were acquired and accepted as donations. The aim was to use the then still new technology to build up a scientific teaching apparatus of illustrations to supplement the existing collections of paintings, prints and drawings. Entries in the inventory book of engravings - created by Fiorillo from 1784 - provide evidence of specific acquisitions of photographs from the 1870s at the latest. For example, an entry from 1879 states: "31 sheets of photographs after Raphael, hand drawings (gift from Mr. Geh. Hof Rath Hasse - 1879)"
The purchase of photographs for teaching purposes increased considerably under August Schmarsow (1852-1936) from 1881 at the latest. Purchases of photographs from the art publisher Franz Hanfstaengl in Munich are mentioned very frequently. Konrad Lange (1855-1921), who was employed as a professor and responsible for the collection at the University of Göttingen in the 1880s and 90s, wrote in the University Chronicle in 1891 that an increase in the budget would make more purchases possible. Interestingly, he speaks of: "... Acquisition of original photographs and photomechanical reproductions of masterpieces of German and Dutch painting as well as modern art.
Dürer and Rembrandt are now almost complete, Holbein, Leonardo da Vinci, Menzel and others are represented at least in their major works...". Lange also mentions that he organizes exhibitions and makes the "photo collection created in recent years accessible to the public".
In 1997, the collection grew by leaps and bounds with the donation of the photo collection of the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel. These are mainly 19th century reproduction photographs of paintings from the Kassel Gallery, but architecture, the Orient and other subjects are also represented.
Anne-Katrin Sors