If works of art are looked at really intensively, then visual perception will become an incomparable adventure. Then one immerses in their phenomenal world and in the intrinsic reality of painting. Only then also the genuine potential of the pictures will be seen. In three detailed chapters, a receptive-aesthetic-phenomenological journey through magnificent picture landscapes is undertaken.

In Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa, it is important to follow the dynamic visual experience and the complex formations that disclose the work‘s previously unseen dimensions of meaning.The hunt for Moby Dick is once again painted by Frank Stella. Everything revolves around the question: how can his non-representational works follow Melville's novel, if the story itself already deals with the impossibility of narration? The pictorial landscape unfolded by Anselm Kiefer in his history painting Varus requires an entrance into the founding myth of the Hermannsschlacht. Here, one encounters not only a detailed genealogy of patriotic thinking developed in a picture-logical manner – but also the fractures and instabilities and the apocalyptic consequences of this German narration.It is always about what is visible to the eye and about what remains invisible but yet is indispensable.

Mit den Namen Luther und Kolumbus verbinden sich heute meist Vorstellungen von Aufbruch, Expansion und Glaubensfreiheit. Ausstellung und Katalog fragen anlässlich des 500. Reformationsjubiläums nach den Folgen der Gleichzeitigkeit von Glaubens- und Weltbildwandel im 16. Jahrhundert. Wie konnte eine sich auf die Autorität des Alten berufende Gesellschaft mit dem Veränderungsdruck ihrer Zeit umgehen? Ein 185 Nummern umfassender, reich illustrierter Katalog und sieben wissenschaftliche Beiträge beleuchten eine faszinierende Welt im Wandel, in der Aufbruchs-und Endzeitstimmung gleichermaßen ihren Platz hatten und der Umgang mit Neuem und Fremdem erst erprobt werden musste.

Die Schausammlungen des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, Band 1

Die Neukonzeption der Schausammlung »Kleidung des 18. bis 20. Jahrhunderts« konnte 2002 mit einer feierlichen Eröffnung abgeschlossen werden. Die neue Dauerausstellung der Kostümsammlung führt durch 300 Jahre Kleidungskultur. Da sie nicht nur den Wandel der Kleider und Moden zeigt, sondern auch inhaltlich und ausstellungstechnisch auf neuen Grundlagen beruht, trägt sie den Titel »Kleiderwechsel«. Die Kostümsammlung des Germanischen Nationalmuseums gehört zu den ältesten textilen Fachsammlungen. Begleitet wird die Ausstellung vom ersten Band einer Publikationsreihe, mit der das Germanische Nationalmuseum seine neu eingerichteten Schausammlungen erschließt.

Accompanying the exhibition of the same title ("Aufbruch der Jugend - Deutsche Jugendbewegung zwischen Selbstbestimmung und Verführung") in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum from 26 September 2013 until 19 January 2014.
In the time around 1900, “youth” was synonymous with awakening and renewal, future and visions. Young middle-class people were challenging their elders. Many of the aims of these young people were met by the demands of the Lebensreform movement. Many young people joined organisations like “Wandervogel”, joint activities strengthening a sense of belonging.
In 35 critical essays and illustrated by 280 objects this volume depicts the youth movement from its beginnings, its political ideologisation, until the FRG’s first open-air festival in Schloss Waldeck in 1964.

Third, completely revised edition 2018.

Friedrich Albert Schmidt, 1846–1916, belonged to the Weimar school of painters during the end phase of Realism and the transition to Impressionism. After studying art in Munich with Anschütz and Diez, the most formative years for his painting career resulted from his apprenticeship with Eugène Lavieille and his artistic friends in Barbizon, which was followed by more than five years with Arnold Böcklin in Florence. The influence of both masters can be seen clearly in his Weimar paintings and this influence continued well beyond the turn of the century. Schmidt reveals an impressive diversity in his artistic work which can be attributed to his various life phases and their associated painting periods, and which is also reflected in his choice of his tools. These range from large format oil paintings of studio work, up to paintings of medium and small sized formats from outdoor work, as well as etchings, watercolors and drawings in ink.

This presentation on the life of the German landscape painter Friedrich Albert Schmidt came from the desire to present an updated biography of the artist, along with images of his artistic work. Although he was well known and highly esteemed during his lifetime, today only a small group of art lovers of 19th Century landscape painting are familiar with his work. It is therefore the author’s objective to revive his work and communicate it to the current generation. Bearing this in mind, the presentation will primarily concentrate on documenting the formative stages of the artist’s life and his artistic painting periods. This third, completely revised edition of "Biography and painting register" 2018 records the latest insights about the artist and his work.

Friedrich Albert Schmidt is the great great uncle of the author.

Since not many decades a new type of artist has evolved, whose sole existence can be understood as another symptom of a total economisation of all areas of life: the business artist. He is an entrepreneur and manager, art director and designer. He organizes his production highly economic and delegates all work to his numerous assistants. He has become a global brand and strategically controls all marketing efforts. As an Art Star he stages his image and merges with global luxury brands.

In the tradition of Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami are the three most successful business artists of our time are chosen, who represent this type of artist at best within the actual discourse.

The volume sheds new light on the Parisian art world after the Second World War, its protagonists, inter(national) dimensions and aesthetic challenges. It assembles a selection of contributions of the annual congress 2014/15 held at the German Center for Art History Paris as well as  further results of research undertaken during that same year. Besides questions of historiography the publication focuses on case studies in which renowned artists like Giacometti, Picasso and Brassaï are analized. Furthermore, new protagonists, institutions and media are introduced and innovative perspectives developed. The volume thus makes a valuable contribution to the reevaluation of art of the postwar period.

The exegetical Beuys-reception assumes that he is an ‘authentic’ artist and that a certain immediacy defines his performance. The study, on the other hand, shows by analysing the tatar-legend as a narrative story, some autobiographical documents, performances and medialisations as well as the Beuys-retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in 1979 as a platform for the artistic staging that Beuys is an auto-fictional figure, which exposes its artificiality, constructiveness and fictionality. Thus, the irony of Beuys’ performance becomes apparent as a comment on the role and significance of the artist, that he maintained so offensively at the same time.

The mistresses of the French kings are decisive elements in common notions of living at Early Modern courts – a magnificent life full of glamour, affairs and intrigues, animated by beautiful women, who had lots of power and influence. This art historical study seeks to critically review and specify such popular assumptions. By exploring artifacts in diverse media (visual arts, architecture, poetry), which in the time of the French Renaissance were made either for or on the occasion of the royal favorite, she becomes vivid as a particularly multifarious figure of Early Modern court life.

Two female figures in French history are particularly focused upon here: Anne de Pisseleu (1508-1580?) and Diane de Poitiers (1500-1566). The images, residences und texts devised for both of them evoke the complex roles they were assigned at the courts of the Valois-kings Francis I and Henri II respectively. Their persona – generated by diverse media and developed in competition with the ones of powerful male favorites – cannot be considered role models for those royal mistresses that later, during the reign of Louis XIV and in the age of Absolutism, became regular members of the king’s court. Instead, they should be looked upon as historically highly specific prospects for female power that made use of the arts and their specific potential as agency.

In the 1950s the medical student Dietrich Lehmann (1929-2014) did create a series of hand-painted film posters for the student film club at the university of Heidelberg. Hereby, the impressive effect this film club had did reach out way beyond Heidelberg into post-war Federal Germany. The catalogue, which accompanies the eponymous exhibition at the University Museum in Heidelberg, contextualises Lehmann’s posters within the history and the development of the genre of the film poster and discusses in articles as well as in the individual entries the history of the Heidelberg film club as well as that of the German film clubs in general. Moreover, the national as well as local history of film and the personality of Dietrich Lehmann are examined.

Click here to learn more about the exhibition (October 27, 2017 - April 15, 2018).

Under the motto A Future for Our Past, the European Architectural Heritage Year of 1975 was the most important and successful campaign of its time for the preservation and valorisation of architectural heritage in Europe. With its recognition of the importance of urbanistic ensembles, of the plurality within the categories of historic monuments, of citizens’ engagement, and finally, of legal and administrative measures for monument protection, this European campaign had a sustainable impact. Its programmatic approaches and conceptual ideas are of high importance for the present, and motivate new interpretations for the future. With more than 40 contributions this publication is the first comprehensive appraisal of 1975 European Architectural Heritage Year for its 40^th anniversary in 2015.

Die „digitale Revolution“ ist längst in vollem Gange. Für die Denkmalpflege haben digitale Anwendungen neue Perspektiven geöffnet, etwa in der interaktiven Visualisierung verlorener Zustände, im Monitoring bedrohter Stätten und Artefakte oder in der komplexen Vernetzung heterogener Wissensbestände. Deutlicher werden inzwischen auch Grenzen und ungelöste Probleme im Einsatz digitaler Technologien, etwa was die Nachhaltigkeit der rapide wachsenden Datenmengen betrifft.
Doch haben wir es in Bezug auf die Digitalisierung nicht in erster Linie mit einer nur „technischen“ Neuerung zu tun. So wird das Bemühen um das digitale Erbe, mit dem Auftrag zur Dokumentation, Erforschung und Publizierung von Kulturgütern, nicht nur die Institution Museum transformieren. Zu beobachten ist auch, dass sich mit der neuen Fülle an digital erzeugten Bildern die wissenschaftlichen Standards verändern. Ein weiterer unterschätzter Aspekt der digitalen Revolution ist eine Umschichtung der Aufmerksamkeiten auf dem „Markt“ der Wissenschaften.
Die wohl auffälligste Folge des digitalen Versprechens einer genauen und verlustfreien Reproduktion des Verlorenen ist, dass bei jeder spektakulären Zerstörung von bekannten Monumenten reflexhaft die Forderung nach einer Rekonstruktion aufkommt. Deutlich wird hier, dass dem Digitalen eine innere Affinität zur Rekonstruktion innewohnt, insofern seine Leistungsfähigkeit in der Übersetzung aller Informationen in einen binären Code, in der angeblich verlustfreien Speicherung und Kopie beruht. Im digitalen Zeitalter wird die Unterscheidung von Original und Kopie so an Relevanz verlieren – auch zu dem Preis einer totalen Manipulierbarkeit der Daten, wie der Realität. (Gerhard Vinken)

It took generations for the Cathedral of Auxerre to be completed and yet the building shows a remarkable homogeneity. Along with the architecture, particularly the numerous cycles of images deserve recognition. These "talking Pictures" are not merely decorative elements but integral components of the bishop`s church. It is the interaction between many singular pieces of art by which the Cathedral Saint-Étienne conveys a realistic impression of the complexity of medieval sacral buildings and the religiousness of an urban society in the 13^th century.

Die Schausammlungen des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, Band 3

This title accompanies the permanent exhibition at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum on art and cultural history of the German-speaking world during the 16^th to 18^th centuries. The exhibition has been on display since 2010. It features about 1,000 exhibits in 33 rooms and addresses central themes of the early modern period such as collecting and presenting, the reception of antiquity and nature studies, the correlation between art and religion and the changing image of humanity. The complementing publication includes papers that deal with these key themes in a detailed manner. It also comprises a scientific catalogue of all exhibits. Paintings and sculptures, including masterpieces by Albrecht Dürer, Peter Vischer, Lucas Cranach or Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, as well as stained glasses, graphic prints and illustrated books, art handicraft, textiles, jewellery, medals, furniture and musical instruments are being put into their artistic and historical contexts on the basis of the most recent research. In this attractively designed volume about two thirds of the 1,000 exhibits are being presented in high quality colour prints.

How do visual artists argue with one another and how do they use their works as weapons? This question was the subject of the congress 'From argument to image – visual polemics and other artists' weapons, organised by the DFG project 'The argumentative strategies of visual artists in the modern era'. The essays encourage a debate on the artistic argument as a phenomenon and the creative potential it unleashes. The examples of such clashes include attacks on rivals, critics and patrons.

Schriftenreihe des Museums Europäischer Kulturen, Band 19

The starting point of this publication is the presentation daHEIM: Glances into Fugitive Lives realized in Berlin by the Museum Europäischer Kulturen with the artist barbara caveng and the initiative KUNSTASYL in 2016/17. Against the background of the situation of immigrants fleeing to Europe since 2015, it highlights the experiences and dreams of its protagonists from a residential hostel in the Berlin district of Spandau. Biographical examples of people who have migrated within, to and from Europe in the last two centuries are brought into comparison with current fates. This demonstrates that flight is not a new phenomenon, but has always been with us - at various times and in various places. Twelve authors from Europe, North and South America describe individual migration experiences, looking back as far as the 19th century from 2016. Over and beyond this, European migration movements are placed in global contexts, and forms of institutional migration remembrance presented.

2nd edition 2017.

Schriftenreihe des Museums Europäischer Kulturen, Band 19

The starting point of this publication is the presentation daHEIM: Glances into Fugitive Lives realized in Berlin by the Museum Europäischer Kulturen with the artist barbara caveng and the initiative KUNSTASYL in 2016/17. Against the background of the situation of immigrants fleeing to Europe since 2015, it highlights the experiences and dreams of its protagonists from a residential hostel in the Berlin district of Spandau. Biographical examples of people who have migrated within, to and from Europe in the last two centuries are brought into comparison with current fates. This demonstrates that flight is not a new phenomenon, but has always been with us - at various times and in various places. Twelve authors from Europe, North and South America describe individual migration experiences, looking back as far as the 19th century from 2016. Over and beyond this, European migration movements are placed in global contexts, and forms of institutional migration remembrance presented.

2nd edition 2017.

The volume presented here examines the influence of one of the most splendidly representative achievements of the early modern period upon the European courts of the 17^th and 18^th centuries.  The Palace of Versailles was a showroom which made French luxury items known, and desired, far beyond the borders of France, drawing the attention of all regents of the time, and although numerous forms and ideas were borrowed by the artists and craftsmen who settled in the various European courts, the persistence of local traditions should not be under-estimated.

Starting with an analysis of the form and function of the Versailles apartments, the French model is considered for its influence upon the concept of the apartment at other European courts.  The contributions to this volume analyse the interplay between architecture, décor and ceremony and the particular importance of the apartments for the representation of the court. The arrangement of the rooms is shown to be a complex referral system that decided the presentation of power and accessibility to the regent.  The rationale of the interior design is only revealed through an interdisciplinary examination which also takes into consideration the social and political/historical conditions.  Already existing traditions of the European houses were transferred and adapted, and therefore newly configured, as part of this process.

The first part of the volume concentrates on the model of the apartment developed in France and attempts an understanding of the complex development in Versailles up to 1701, within which the Chambre de Parade became the centrepiece of the Palace.  The second part contains case studies of residences in the German-speaking countries and examines the complex exchange and variety of the heterogeneous solutions.  The study concludes with contributions about various important European courts in England, Holland, Sweden, Poland, Spain and Italy.

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Le présent volume trouve son origine dans un projet aussi légitime qu’attendu : étudier l’influence sur les autres cours européennes de celle qui fut la plus brillante d’entre elles. Le château de Versailles, « showroom » étincelant contribuant à l’exportation des biens luxueux de la culture française hors des frontières, était au centre de tous les regards européens. Si des artistes et artisans français partis s’installer dans les pays germanophones empruntèrent nombre de ses formes et idées, sous-estimer la persistance des traditions locales serait néanmoins une erreur.

Analysant la forme et la fonction de l’appartement royal du château de Versailles, cet ouvrage examine sa portée en tant que modèle de référence pour les conceptions ultérieures d’appartements princiers en Europe. Le livre rassemble des travaux relatifs à l’architecture, à la décoration et au cérémonial des appartements des résidences royales et princières en Europe. L’accent est mis sur leur rôle spécifique dans le cérémonial de la cour. Dans cette perspective, l’effet conjoint de la disposition spatiale, de l’architecture et de la décoration apparaît comme un facteur complexe, influençant de manière considérable la mise en scène du pouvoir monarchique, la fonction de représentation du souverain et son accessibilité. C’est l’articulation interdisciplinaire des différents types de savoir qui permet de comprendre la logique d’aménagement des appartements des cours européennes, ainsi que leur usage et l’étiquette qui les gouvernait. Les traditions préexistantes des maisons européennes se voient repositionnées dans ce processus.

La première partie de cet ouvrage se concentre sur les appartements officiels français, qui, en tant que principal lieu à la mode au XVIIIe siècle, disposaient d’un important pouvoir d’attraction. Les premières contributions s’attachent surtout à présenter l’évolution complexe de l’appartement officiel du château de Versailles, des origines jusqu’en 1701, lorsque la chambre de parade devient le cœur architectural du château. La deuxième partie de l’ouvrage se consacre aux résidences du Saint Empire romain germanique. Le champ d’investigation s’étend enfin aux principales cours de Grande-Bretagne, des Pays-Bas, de Suède, de Pologne, d’Espagne et d’Italie. Les exemples analysés donnent un aperçu des échanges complexes et hétérogènes entre les cours européennes.

Skatestickers are graphically designed stickers distributed by skate labels (manufacturers of skateboards and accessories). Originally, they were produced for advertising purposes only, but have now become icons for the scene:  “the visual expression of a lifestyle”, “the visual imprint of our feelings”, “a simple way of demonstrating the identification with a group”. Skaters collect, trade and value these stickers. Our visual research approach allows us to analyse and recognise the complex image motifs, which often adapt the visual arts, in these graphic design items and their increasingly autonomous function as visual media for a scene.

Art law has evolved into being an independent and important discipline within the constantly growing art market. The new German Kulturgutschutzgesetz (Act to Protect German Cultural Property) exemplarily shows this growing importance.

Artists, collectors, gallery owners, merchants, art mediators, auctioneers, trustees, museum people, journalists, and lawyers hereby have a quickly accessible collection of legislation, regulations and ethical guidelines from different fields of law being relevant for the daily work with art and art law.

 The collection combines both applicable German legislation, european guidelines and regulations, international conventions (e.g. the Washington Principles, UNIDROIT) and ethical principles of different art trade associations in one volume.