“Munich. Look here!” is the first exhibition to present a broad selection of the extensive photo archives of the Bavarian State Library. The exhibition at the Bavarian State Library is now open again and has been extended until July 31, 2020
For academics and those interested in research, the image archive of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is a place of longing, even though it was only established in 1985. By then, the library was already 427 years old and the history of photography had already lasted over 150 years. After all, Munich was an important center of the avant-garde in the 19th century alongside Paris and London. The mathematician Carl August von Steinheil and the mineralogist Franz von Kobell took the first photographs on salt paper or metal surfaces. The chemist Alois Löcherer experimented with glass plates and passed on his knowledge to the court photographers Joseph Albert and Franz Hanfstaengl, who documented Neuschwanstein Castle and took portraits of the ageing King Ludwig II.
It was not until 2019 that the state capital was able to return to this heyday. A new era had dawned for the image archive since the addition of the analog image collection of “Stern”, more than 15 million photos capturing legendary moments in contemporary history. “This brought us into a completely new dimension, an international one,” says Cornelia Jahn, head of the Maps and Images department. Since then, curators and restorers have been looking after these iconic slides, negatives and prints, which are being digitized as part of a long-term project – it was precisely this expertise that was decisive in the decision to donate the Hamburg image collection of the publishing house “Gruner + Jahr” to Munich.
Another prominent part of the extensive “knowledge repository” is the photo archive of photographer Felicitas Timpe, which focuses on scientific, cultural and public life in Munich between 1952 and 2000. Another important historical source is the archive of Hitler photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, who played a key role in the dictator’s self-promotion and denied any propagandistic intention in his photo chronicle of the Third Reich after the end of the war. The largest number of the 2.5 million images he left behind were confiscated after 1945 and are now in the National Archives in Washington. 66,000 images are accessible for research and exhibitions in this country.
The exhibition “Munich. Look here!”, the current exhibition of the image archive with around 280 motifs, which can be viewed until July 31, 2020. Since last Monday, the General Reading Room and the current photo exhibition have been open again – like all other areas of the library, however, with restrictions.
Read more about the exhibition in RESTAURO 3/2020, https://shop.georg-media.de/restauro/einzelhefte