Collaborations
Arbeitsgemeinschaft kunsthistorischer Bildarchive und Fototheken (AKBF)
The Photographic Collection is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft kunsthistorischer Bildarchive und Fototheken (AKBF) (Consortium for Art-Historical Image Archives and Photographic Libraries), an association of image archives of German research and cultural institutions founded in 2004. The working group is primarily dedicated to building infrastructures for the digital presentation of photographic material, as well as evaluating and establishing methods, techniques, and standards for archiving, indexing, and publishing photographic collections for purposes of education and scholarship. The following institutions belong to the AKBF:
Deutsche Fotothek, Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) | Photographic Collection of the Institute of Art History in Florence, Max Planck Institute | Rheinisches Bildarchiv Cologne | Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte (DDK) (German Documentation Center for Art History) – Image Archive Foto Marburg | Image Archive of the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association, Marburg | Photographic Collection of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte Munich | Photographic Collection of the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, Rome
The AKBF meets approximately every six months to discuss selected topics. In the network portal Bildindex der Kunst- und Architektur (Art and Architecture Image Index) operated by the DDK – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg all the data and images from the Photographic Collection’s online catalog can also be consulted. (https://www.arthistoricum.net/netzwerke/akbf; https://www.bildindex.de/)
PHAROS
PHAROS – The International Association of Photo Archives (https://pharosartresearch.org/) is an international consortium of art history photo libraries and archives founded in 2013. The aim is to present the holdings, which have so far been stored in individual archives, on a common platform (PHAROS Art Research Database). The Photographic Collection is a founding member of Pharos and actively involved in all internal project working groups (Board of Directors, Executive Steering Committee, Technology Group, User Group, Data Model Group, Image Group, Intellectual Property Group). The Photographic Collection is likewise a member of the small pilot group that is further developing the database with tech companies and controlling and adapting the many aspects of data management to current possibilities. The platform will be launched in 2025, initially in various internal versions, and then made generally accessible with a public release.
The following institutions belong to PHAROS:
Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rom | Courtauld Institute of Art, London | DDK – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg | Federico Zeri Foundation, Bologna | Frick Art Reference Library, New York | Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles | Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz | National Gallery of Art, Washington | Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris (bis 2024) | Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London | RKD – Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, Netherlands Institute for Art History, Den Haag | Villa I Tatti – The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florenz | Warburg Institute, London | Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Bernini-Project
The project “The Technical Study of Bernini's Bronzes: Art History, Conservation and Material Science” is a broad-based study that uses the latest technological methods to examine all known bronze sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini with regard to material, state of preservation, working process, authenticity, etc. (https://www.berninisbronzes.com/) The collaboration with the University of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and the John P. Getty Museum Los Angeles is supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and VISTAS (Virtual Images of Sculpture in Time and Space). The project is led by Prof. Evonne Levy (University of Toronto) and Dr. Lisa Ellis (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto).
Enrico Fontolan, the photographer of the Photographic collection, is creating a comprehensive new photographic documentation for the project and has carried out several major photographic campaigns for this purpose. So far, the stations have been Berlin and Potsdam (July 2023), Edinburgh, Bristol, Plymouth, Copenhagen (December 2023), Rome (various collections, May 2024), Perugia, Camerino and Spoleto (December 2024). Further campaigns are planned in Spain, the United States, and Australia. In each campaign, approximately 200 to 300 photographs are taken of each object, which, in an elaborate post-production process, make the multiple views of the objects usable and tangible for research. Objects and photographs are cataloged in the Photographic Collection with the help of a VISTAS grant, after approval by the project management.
Kupferstichkabinett Berlin
Since the beginning of 2021, the Photographic Collection has been working closely with the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, in particular with Dr. Christien Melzer, curator of the Dutch drawings, on the preparation of the exhibition “The Allure of Rome” (see Projects).
Provenance Research Working Group Italy
Since 2023, the Photographic Collection is cooperating with the working group Italy of the Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. (Research Association for Provenance Research). The working group’s aim is to create an active network between Italy and Germany and to promote the exchange of knowledge and the development of contacts. It’s intended purpose is to serve as a resource for research and projects as well as to support communication between researchers, archivists, librarians, curators and other experts involved in provenance research. The working group sees itself as a central forum for Italian-specific provenance issues. The Photographic Collection cooperates with the working group on questions of provenance research in the field of photo archives. Tatjana Bartsch and Johannes Röll took part in the kick-off workshop “Provenance Research in Italy” at the German Study Center in Venice in September 2023. In September 2024, the Photographic Collection hosted the annual conference, which was sponsored by the Thyssen Foundation.
The Working Group Graphik vernetzt | Graphikportal
Since 2013, the Photographic Collection is a partner in the Graphik vernetzt working group, which encompasses around fifty graphic collections in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The tasks are to develop strategies for the ongoing digital networking of graphic collections and to meet an agreement on common digitization standards. On its behalf, the DDK – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg hosts and operates the network system Graphikportal (online since 2017). Into this portal the Photographic Collection, in collaboration with the Art Collection Department of the Bibliotheca Hertziana, has integrated the complete collection of print graphics from its own art collection (approx. 1,700 works). In 2023, followed the prints and drawings belonging to the art collection of the Casa di Goethe Museum (approx. 1,500 works), after having been first photographed and cataloged by the Photographic Collection as part of a long-term collaboration established in 2016. (https://www.graphikportal.org/)