Department of Prints and Drawings
Department of Prints and Drawings
A treasure trove of art on paper
The Department of Prints and Drawings at the Kunsthalle Bremen is one of the most important collections of graphic works in Germany. Its holdings encompass over 220,000 works, including drawings, prints, watercolours, miniatures, sketch books, posters, and artistically illustrated books from seven centuries. A special focus of the collection is on drawings and prints of the German, Netherlandish, and Italian schools from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, as well as on French and German art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Old Cabinet, photo: Karen Blindow
Viewing Times
Tu 10 am–4 pm and by appointment
Works on paper are especially sensitive to light. For this reason, they are kept in closed portfolios, boxes, and cabinets and can only be presented in temporary exhibitions lasting three months. Academic catalogues and the Kunsthalle Bremen’s – future – online database will make selected works in the collection available on a permanent basis.
Works can be presented for viewing in the Old Cabinet, which was set up in 1902, on Tuesdays between 10 am and 4 pm or by appointment. Please contact our collection curators at +49 (0)421 - 32 908 460 or click on the contact form under "Ansprechpartner*innen" at the bottom of the page.
Upon prior arrangement, objects from the Department of Prints and Drawings can be made available in the Cabinet for teaching purposes. If you are an interested, please contact us beforehand to set a date.
The New Cabinet, photo: Marcus Meyer
Digital Accessibility
The Kunsthalle Bremen realizes an extensive project to make the entire collection of the Department of Prints and Drawings accessible digitally. Works on paper will be entered into the Kunsthalle’s existing public online database and published successively. The long-term plan is to integrate the graphic collections of various national and international museums into a common portal to allow access to all the holdings in one place.
This project is supported by the Waldemar Koch Stiftung.
From 2017 till 2020, the extensive collection of fifteenth and sixteenth-century German and Netherlandish printed works and drawings from the Klugkist Collection were digitized, funded by the BMBF. From May 2019 to April 2023, the collections of French and Japanese prints and drawings were digitally made accessible as part of a project funded by the DFG.
Learn more about digital access to the Department of Prints and Drawings here.
Highlights
from more than 200,000 drawings and printed works
The Department of Prints and Drawings was the source and the heart of the collection of the Kunstverein in Bremen, which was founded in 1823. In the beginning, the few members met regularly every week to view art and discuss printed works. The purpose of the collection was more to provide a place of ‘ideal enjoyment’‚ to ‘view goods works of art together’ than to present instructive lectures, as the board described in their 1901/02 annual report.
In the nineteenth century, large private bequests laid the foundation for the outstanding quality of the Bremen holdings: Hieronymus Klugkist bequeathed printed works and watercolours by Albrecht Dürer to the Kunstverein in 1851, including:
Albrecht Dürer, Blue Flag Iris, c. 1503
Watercolour, gouache, pen (two sheets adhered together), 77.5 x 31.3 cm, Klugkist Bequest 1851, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Department of Prints and Drawings / photo Lars Lohrisch
In 1856, Johann Heinrich Albers bequeathed 15,000 printed works to the Department of Prints and Drawings, including valuable etchings by Rembrandt such as:
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, The Three Trees, 1643
Etching with drypoint and engraving, Johann Heinrich Albers Bequest 1856, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Department of Prints and Drawings / photo: Die Kulturgutscanner-Rosenau
In 1885, the Kunsthalle received 6,000 coloured Italian woodcuts from Melchior Hermann Segelken andin 1905 over100,000 prints by Goya, Munch, Menzel, Klinger, Toulouse-Lautrec and others from H.H. Meier. To this day, the Department of Prints and Drawings remains indebted to its benefactors and patrons for other donations, bequests, and acquisitions.
Andô Hiroshige, Okazaki. Yahagi no bashi (sheet 39 from the series The 53 Stationsalong the Tôkaidô, 38th Station), c. 1831/34
nishiki-e (colour woodblock print), ôban (large format), 23 x 35 cm/ 24.7 x 37.7 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Department of Prints and Drawings / photo: Die Kulturgutscanner-Rosenau
Following the evacuation of numerous works in 1943 during the war, the holdings of the Kunsthalle suffered painful losses. Around 1,500 drawings and over 6,000 prints are still missing. However, many works have been returned, including:
Albrecht Dürer, The Women’s Bath, 1496
Pen in black ink, 231 x 230 mm, Klugkist Bequest 1851, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Department of Prints and Drawings / photo: Karen Blindow
More highlights from the Department of Prints and Drawings collection:
Paolo Caliari, gen. Il Veronese, Die Bewirtung der heiligen Familie
Feder in Grau und Schwarz, grau laviert, weiß gehöht, über schwarzer Kreide, auf graublau getöntem Papier, 397 x 530 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch
Hendrick Goltzius, Herkules Farnese, um 1592
Kupferstich, 416 x 300 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Karen Blindow
Gérard Edelinck, Die Anghiari-Schlacht, 1657–1666
nach einer Zeichnung von Peter Paul Rubens nach dem verlorenem Fresko von Leonardo da Vinci, Kupferstich, 500 x 640 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen / photo: Die Kulturgutscanner-Rosenau
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Orientalischer Magier, auf eine Sphinx gestützt, um 1755
Feder und Pinsel in Braun, hellbraun laviert, 263 x 179 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch
Caspar David Friedrich, Schlafender Knabe, 1802
Bleistift, Pinsel in Braun, Feder in Schwarz und Braun, 181 x 116 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Divan Japonais, 1892/94
Farblithographie, 80,6 x 60 cm / 81,3 x 62 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Mit Schilf werfende Badende, 1909
erschienen in der V. Jahresmappe der Brücke, 1910, Farbholzschnitt (Druck von drei Stöcken in Schwarz, Rot und Grün), 20 x 29 cm / 40 x 54 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch
Max Beckmann, Die Nacht, 1919
Lithographie, ca. 55,3 x 69,8 / 62,2 x 82,2 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Karen Blindow
Nam June Paik, Ohne Titel (Krawatten-Zeichnung I), 1961
Tusche auf Papier, 780 x 1035 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch, © Nam June Paik Estate
Pablo Picasso, Porträt einer Frau mit Pomponhut und bedruckter Bluse, 1962
Linolschnitt, fünf Farben von einer Platte, 62,9 x 49,5 cm / 75,1 x 58,6 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch, © Succession Picassso / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022
Lucebert (eigentlich Lubertus Jacobus Swaanswijk), Krieg und Kind, 1994
Farbsiebdruck, 51,5 x 33,2 cm / 60,7 x 40,2 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Lars Lohrisch, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022
Nanne Meyer, Luftblick, 2001
Bleistift, 750 x 1050 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Jens Ziehe
Ugo Rondinone, Stars, 2009
Lithographie, 98 x 67 cm, Installationsansicht, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett / photo: Tobias Hübel, © Ugo Rondinone
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