Photography

The department of photographs was founded in 1989 on the basis of two private collections of Stuttgart - a selected collection of historical photography from Talbot to Man Ray and an international collection of Concept Art of the 1960s and ’70s.

The illustrative function of photography was a decisive impulse in the process of the liberation of the fine arts and its autonomy after 1900. The focus of our research is on the reactions and reflexes of present-day art movements to the history of photography as an art form, its aesthetic and its role in the critique of society.

Our holdings provide an overview of the artistic phenomena and thematic complexes developed with photographic techniques in all their diversity. The chief focuses are on works from the pioneer days of photography in the mid nineteenth century, experimental works of the 1920s and ’30s, investigation series, diagrams, vehicles for the ideas of concept art and new works of the 1980s from centres in Canada, France and Germany. [ UG ]