Workshop on the Digital Catalog of Hand Drawings and Prints by Lea Grundig

On June 7, 2018, a joint event of the Hans-und-Lea-Grundig-Foundation and the Max-Lingner-Foundation in cooperation with the Akademie der Künste Berlin took place at the Max-Lingner-Haus to discuss the digital catalog of hand drawings and prints by Lea Grundig, which is currently in preparation. Thanks to the initiative of Dr. Maria Heiner (Dresden) and implemented by Peter Straube (Dresden), the digital internet project is to be completed in 2019 and will include several thousand entries. Maria Heiner has researched in museums, archives and private collections worldwide for works by Lea Grundig.

Even though there have been initiatives since the 1960s, during Lea Grundigs‘ lifetime, to systematically develop and publish their artistic works, there is still no valid list of works existing. Maria Heiner’s initiative falls into a time of increased interest in questions of attribution, genuineness, and the provenance of works of art. In addition, the methods of the Digital Humanities, especially in the field of artists‘ directories, offer new ways of presenting and analyzing.

Together with experts – e.g. from the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus Osnabrück, the Digitalis Berlin Research and Competence Center Berlin (digiS), the Institute for Museum Research at the Staatliche Museen Berlin-Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow, Leipzig and from the Akademie der Künste Berlin – approximately 20 participants discussed aspects and perspectives of art-scientific, archival and curatorial work with (digital) catalogs of works. Questions were also discussed about the accessibility and permanent security of comparable digital projects. A continuation of the debates in the context of the work of the Hans-und-Lea-Grundig Foundation is planned, especially with regard to many comparable cases of artists’ directories.