Statens Museum for Kunst Presents Today Across - Acquisitions 2007-09
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Monday, September 1, 2025


Statens Museum for Kunst Presents Today Across - Acquisitions 2007-09
J.F. Willumsen (1863 - 1958), The Straw Bridge (Ponte della Paglia) in Venice. Night
1934.



COPENHAGEN.- Statens Museum for Kunst presents today Across - Acquisitions 2007-09, on view through August 9, 2009. What is tax money spent on? What do private foundations etc. support? And what are the criteria behind the choice of works of art which will form part of the rich collections at Denmark’s national gallery? This summer’s exhibition at Statens Museum for Kunst presents a special selection of the many acquisitions made over the last couple of years: from unique purchases of older 15th century art to important newer works and the latest contemporary art. From Georg Hoefnagel and Wilhelm Bendz, including Vilhelm Hammershøj, J. F. Willumsen and Paul Klee, to John Kørner, Jenny Holzer and Jonathan Meese. The exhibition also looks at the frame of reference of the art purchases of the Museum and reveals something of the procedures and strategies which underlie the choice of new works for the collections.

From here to eternity Over the years, more or less autocratic directors of the Museum have left a lasting impression on the expansion of the collection of 700 years of art – for better or worse. Every time the Museum acquires a work of art, then it is a definitive choice with no going back. The museum laws prescribe that once a new work enters the collections, it cannot be removed. The work is thus removed from the general mechanisms of the market and becomes part of our common cultural heritage to be registered, conserved, researched and introduced to the general public.

This is why several of the Museum’s specialists carefully evaluate whether the individual work of art can contribute something special to the collections, and whether it has the necessary art historical weight and strength. In some cases – particularly with older works – further art historical and technical investigations of the authenticity of the work, its provenance etc. are set afoot before the final decision is made.

Across The exhibition gathers up a selection of new acquisitions made since Karsten Ohrt assumed the directorship. More than half of the 100 new acquisitions from the summer of 2007 to now will be shown, including the Museum’s own purchases and often ground-breaking new acquisitions which foundations, firms or private donors have contributed to. The exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs, graphic art and video art, so that it more or less covers the long stretch of time from the Renaissance up to today which the collections also represent. Rather than forcing the works into a chronological or thematic hang, the exhibition has been arranged so that correspondences between the works are presented. As a result of this, the works can be experienced “across periods and mediums – so that it demonstrates the many-sidedness which the collections are representative of.

Acquisitions policy Besides demonstrating the wealth of selected works covering the whole span of art history, the exhibition also aims at communicating the policy behind acquisitions. It is a great challenge to live up to the demands of the museum laws to build up representative collections with 6 million DKK per year to purchase art for. Thus the exhibition also shows the very strict priorities behind the Museum’s purchases; for example there are certain areas of the collections like symbolism and works by female artists that are in need of strengthening due to the preferences and blind spots of earlier periods in the history of Statens Museum for Kunst.

The exhibition is accompanied by a very concentrated and free guide which draws up the main lines of the acquisition policy of the Museum and also introduces the works on show and explains why they were acquired. Foreword by Karsten Ohrt. Main article by Peter Nørgaard Larsen. Includes texts by Birgitte Anderberg, Vibeke Vibolt Knudsen, Liza Burmeister Kaaring, Thomas Lederballe, Kasper Monrad, Eva de la Fuente Pedersen, Hanne Kolind Poulsen, Marianne Torp and Dorthe Aagesen.
55 pages. Fully illustrated.

The exhibition is hung in rooms 212-216. Free admission. The exhibition includes donations and acquisitions with support from: The Augustinus Foundation, Erik Thommesen, The Hermod Lannungs Museum Foundation, Ingemor Gersemi Willumsen, The Heritage Agency of Denmark, Marianne Mickelborg, Montana, The New Carlsberg Foundation, and donators who wish to remain anonymous.










Today's News

May 2, 2009

700 Glorious Years of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture at International Fine Art Fair in N.Y.

MFAH Acquires 300 Photographs by Japanese Photographer Ishimoto Yasuhiro

Statens Museum for Kunst Presents Today Across - Acquisitions 2007-09

The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock - A British Museum Tour

China: Journey to the East - A Touring Exhibition - Opens at The Herbert

Lynn Zelevansky Named The Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art

Musée de l'Elysée Presents Italian Photographer Carlo Valsecchi - Lumen

SCOPE Announces Details For Basel BASEL 2009: 8 - 14 June 2009

President Barack Obama - On the tracks of the Kennedys?

The Chazen Museum Goes Undergound with Comix Exhibition

Patrick Dougherty to Create Large-Scale Tree-Sapling Sculpture in Front of KU's Spooner Hall

Joan Mitchell - Sunflowers at Hauser & Wirth Zürich

Stuart Semple: Everlasting Nothing Less - First New York Solo Exhibition

Kunsthal KAdE Amersfoort The Netherlands presents Wonderland through the Looking Glass

QUEER/SCHRAG at CACT Centro d'Arte Contemporanea Ticino

Cherokee Delegation Visits Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area, Recreating 18th Century Emissaries

Dani Gal - Chanting Down Babylon at Halle fuer Kunst Lueneburg

Timeless Fashion and Art Introduces the "100 Years of Fashion" Art Series

D.A.P. And ND X-Initiative To Open New Contemporary Art Bookstore in New York City

Saint John's Health Center to Unveil One-Of-A-Kind Digital Media Artwall




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 




Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)


Editor: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful