Weekend of Graphics 2024
Guided Tours in the Study hall of the Graphic Collection and in the Paintings Gallery
The Graphic Collection of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna preserves around 100,000 inventory numbers of drawings, prints and photographs from various epochs of art history from the 14th century to the present day. These works of art are very sensitive to light, which is why they are rarely seen in public and are usually kept in storage. Therefore, the Weekend of Graphics – an initiative in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 2009 – focuses on these very “shy” works on paper. In this context, the art collections of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna are offering three guided tours:
13 h
The Collection of Historical Photographs
Johann Franz Michiels, The Construction of the Cathedral of Cologne, 1855, salt print
Graphic Collection of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna holds more than 24,000 photographs, including around 15,000 historical prints, mainly from the 19th century. As early as 1854, the Academy began to systematically acquire photographic prints. While the original intention was to support teaching and use it as illustrative material for artists, the collection was increasingly forgotten from the 1920s onwards and was only gradually rediscovered by photo historians in the past two decades. The study hall tour invites you on such a journey of discovery through the beginnings of the photography collection and selected collection focuses.
Guided tour (in German) with René Schober, Head of the Graphic Collection
Venue: Study hall (in the basement), Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Vienna
14 h
Focus on graphics in the exhibition Cranach’s Holy Productivity An Insert by Klaus Scherübel
Ausstellungsansicht © Kunstsammlungen der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Foto: Iris Ranzinger
In essence, the Heiltumsbuch by Lucas Cranach the E. – one of the most important painters, graphic artists and printers of the German Renaissance and Reformation – is not only an inventory cataloguing the contents of Frederick’s collection of relics but also, thanks to Cranach’s peculiar portrayals of the artefacts, the world’s first artist’s book. The contemporary artist Klaus Scherübel picks up on this in his insert. The scans from the Heiltumsbuch reproduced on metal plates in poster format points to reprographic techniques and the image as a marketing tool for the sale of indulgences.
Guided tour (in German) with Markus Schön, art educator at the Paintings Gallery
Venue: Paintings Gallery, 1 st floor, Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Wien
15 h
Masterpieces from the Graphik Collection
Albrecht Dürer, Portrait of an 18-year-old Youth, 1503, charcoal, heightened with white, on paper
This overview tour offers the opportunity to gain an insight into holdings of the Graphic Collections. Selected masterpieces from the collection areas of drawings and prints will be presented. The spectrum ranges from templates from the 18th century for academy lessons to the Gothic architectural plans, which are part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, the Brazil watercolors by Thomas Ender and the flower watercolors by Moritz Michael Daffinger to works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt and Gustav Klimt.
Guided tour (in German) with René Schober, Head of the Graphic Collection
Venue: Study hall, (in the basement), Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Vienna