Research

The subject of the research, and thus the foundation for the concept of the exhibition, is the scholarly processing of a very large body of sources in various archives, which hitherto had never been analyzed as a whole. The Ferdinand-Möller-Stiftung was fortunate that Dr. Konstanze Rudert was interested in this complex task, to which she has been devoting herself since 2009.

The Ferdinand-Möller-Stiftung will continue the research project beyond the exhibition at Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Stuttgart until 2014. Further publications are planned: a comprehensive biography of Will Grohmann and an edition of a selection of his correspondence.

The Ferdinand-Möller-Stiftung is happy to have found a competent partner in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, where the exhibition, which will present a large part the results of the research to the general public, has found a home. We would especially like to thank Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Holler, the former director of the Kupferstichkabinett Dresden, who paved the way so that the exhibition could be shown in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen. The project is attached to the directorate general, and therefore we also owe thanks to Prof. Dr. Martin Roth, who was director general until September 2011, and also to Dr. Hartwig Fischer, who since May 2012 has supported the project enthusiastically, in addition to his countless other duties as new director general.

The main part of the material, namely the entire estate of Will Grohmann, has been located at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart since 1970. With the aid of this unique archive, a highly complex communicative network can be traced which the art critic Will Grohmann – one of the key figures of the art world in Germany – has built up, maintained, and perfected over fifty years. It covers the fields of art, politics, media, and scholarship.