Caring for Large-Format Photographs at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf
Channel: AIC & FAIC
Date: 31/08/2016

By Nina Quabeck, University of Glasgow

Abstract: Among performance and video artists, photographers such as Juergen Klauke or Katharina Sieverding started to emerge from the lively art scenes of Cologne and Duesseldorf in the 1970s. Sieverding especially began pushing the boundaries of the format of the medium.

From 1976 onwards, Bernd and Hilla Becher were hugely influential as teachers at the Kunstakademie in Duesseldorf. Studying with them were Thomas Struth, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Andreas Gursky and the school became the beating heart of the „Düsseldorfer Photoschule“, also known as the „Becher Class“. When Jeff Wall presented his large-format photographs in Cologne in the mid1980s, they were received enthusiastically by the local scene. This group of photographers kept a keen eye on the work of their American colleagues and set forth to advance photography in technique and scale previously unknown in the artworld. Making use of the technological advances was possible for these artists because they were able to work with the local imaging lab Grieger, a pioneer in face-mounting and large-scale printing.

The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen recognized this and with the show “Aus der Distanz”, presented the works by the Becher Class in a prominent way as early as 1991 and from the 1990s onwards, large-format photography found its way into the collection of the Kunstsammlung in no small numbers. Today, the collection comprises the “Stauffenberg-Block” by Katharina Sieverding, six „Typologies“ by Bernd and Hilla Becher, twenty six face-mounted chromogenic prints by Thomas Demand, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth, several unmounted prints by Candida Höfer and Axel Hütte, and three light-boxes by Jeff Wall.

Most of these artists produce at least part of their works locally. Thus, working with contemporary photographs in Düsseldorf offers a unique opportunity to the conservator: intimate insight into the production of the works and the technological development of the
field.

Yet, preserving and maintaining these works can pose complex challenges. Also, as these works age, the medium’s reproducibility comes into play and raises further questions. How do technological advances influence the works that are already part of our collection? How do they influence future acquisitions?

Speaker bio: Nina Quabeck is a conservator specializing in modern and contemporary works on paper and photographs. A graduate of Camberwell College of Art, she joined the team of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in 2003. In 2007/2008, she was a Samual H. Kress Fellow in Paper Conservation at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Glasgow within the research program “New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art” (NACCA), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network funded by the European Commission. Her research interests include artists’ original presentation formats and perceptions of integrity and authenticity in modern and contemporary works of art.