Opening: THU 03 July, 7 p.m.
Over the summer, the Sammlung Moderne Kunst (Modern Art Collection) is dedicating an extensive exhibition to its significant photographic holdings. With a selection of around 250 works by more than 60 artists from the past hundred years up to the present day, this overview traces the developments in the photographic collections at the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (Bavarian State Painting Collections) since their creation.
When the Pinakothek der Moderne was founded in 2002, a department for photography and time-based media was established, consequently incorporating the medium of photography actively in the collections. Permanent loans from the corporate collections of Siemens (2003) and Allianz (2004) that focussed on photography from the 1970s onwards, provided a magnificent start that has been steadily built on ever since. In 2010, the collection was extensively enhanced and expanded: the gallery owners and collectors Ann and Jürgen Wilde’s photographic collection, with its emphasis on the modernist period, became affiliated to the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen as a foundation together with the Karl Blossfeldt and Albert Renger-Patzsch artist archives. The combined holdings of both of these collections form a comprehensive body totalling some 10,000 works, allowing visitors to experience artistic photography of the highest quality with an international focus.
