2008 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Page 56: Reinhard Seurig (right) and Hans-Jürgen Genzel
(left) measuring a sculpture as part of the “Daphne” project
Dr. Barbara Bechter, a member of staff at the Porzellansammlung,
entering data into the “Daphne” database
In the storeroom of the Porzellansammlung:
Meissen porcelain with celadon coloured
ground, 1st half of the 18th century
Research at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
deals with different subjects and takes numerous different
forms. It embraces the approaches and methods characteristic
of both the arts and the natural sciences, involving
both art historians and restorers. Research in a museum
context extends from “classical” scholarly work concerning
a collection’s holdings to temporary projects supported by
third-party funding. Both are important: without continuous
research on their holdings the museums would cease
to develop and would neglect one of their core responsibilities.
Short-term dedicated research projects for which
external researchers are engaged provide new impulses
and fresh perspectives. The research work conducted at
the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is as diverse as
the museums themselves are. For that reason, it is only
possible to present a small selection here.
“DAPhNE” AND PROVENANCE REsEARCh
In 2008 a focal point of the scientific activities, and one
which attracted a good deal of public attention, was
provenance research and research into the history of the
institutions.
First, a longer-term project was completed – with generous
support from the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung – under the title
“Museum und Kunst in totalitären Systemen” (Museums
and Art in Totalitarian Systems), which investigated the
history of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden during
the 20th century and thus laid the historical basis for provenance
research. The publication presenting the results of
this project is to appear in the anniversary year 2010.
View of the exhibition “Das Grüne Gewölbe kehrt zurück”
(The Grünes Gewölbe Returns) in the foyer of the Neues
Grünes Gewölbe
In spring 2008 the Saxon State Ministry for Science and Art
in association with the Saxon State Ministry for Finance
gave the green light to an application from the Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen for a project in which it is planned to
record and document in the inventory the entire holdings
of the museums – a total of more than 1.2 million objects.
All unsettled or questionable provenances, i.e. the origins
of the works of art, are as far as possible to be clarified and
later published as part of this project. The objects will be
recorded in the database called “Daphne” which has been
developed by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen and the
Dresden software company “Robotron”. The project as a
whole is named after this database. In Greek mythology,
Daphne was a nymph who turned herself into a laurel bush
while fleeing the advances of Apollo. Branches grew from
her body and this “branching out” symbolises the structure
of a database and also the structure of the project. In the
various collections, a total of about 65 people of different
professional backgrounds are working on the registration
of objects, recording them in the database, documenting
them in photographs and establishing their provenance.
The project is being supported with funding amounting to
around 15 million Euro extending up to the year 2018, but
this amount of time will only be required for the largest
collections. Collections that hold a smaller number of objects,
such as the two picture galleries, will be able to
complete this work considerably earlier. “Daphne” (both the
database and the project as a whole) will set new standards
and allow the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden to play
a pioneering role in Germany as regards the search for works
that have wrongfully entered their collections and in the
transparent presentation of their holdings.
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