The Graphic Collection
at Museum Ludwig
Maria Lassnig, Gunpower, 1983, Pencil, Chalk, Gouache on Paper, 69,6 x 50 cm © Maria Lassnig
With the founding of Museum Ludwig in 1976, all of the 20th century works that had been kept at the Wallraf Richartz Museum were transferred to the new museum. This included the works on paper, for which a new department was opened. Today the Graphic Collection embraces around 3,000 original works on paper and almost 10,000 prints.
Pablo Picasso, Portrait Max Jacob, 1907, Gouache on Ingres paper © Succession Picasso / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
The core collection came from the generous gifts made by Josef Haubrich and Peter and Irene Ludwig. The Expressionist drawings that Haubrich donated in 1946 enabled a new start to be made in collecting works of the twentieth century avant-garde after the years of National Socialism. During the Nazi "decadent art" campaign in 1937, the house lost around 440 works on paper. The donation by Josef Haubrich - a lawyer from Cologne - presented the museum with almost 300 new drawings, followed up until Haubrich's death in 1961 by over 100 more works on paper. So once again, shortly after World War Two, Cologne already had one of the leading collections of German Expressionists in its graphic department.
The second cornerstone of the Graphic Collection consists of the donations made from 1976 onwards by husband and wife collectors Peter and Irene Ludwig. These are grouped around three major focuses: Picasso, Russian Avant-garde, and Pop Art.
A major thrust of the collection has been Classical Modernism. The museum received numerous works by Picasso from the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation (1994) and later a donation by Irene Ludwig (2001): 90 original works on paper, 20 printing plates, over 700 prints (including the Vollard Suite, Suite 345 and Suite 156 - all in their entirety). In addition, the Ludwigs also contributed major works from the Russian avant-garde. But the couple also entrusted the house with contemporary works (such a works by Kabakov and Grobman) as well as numerous pieces of American and English Pop Art (such as from Johns, Rauschenberg, Oldenburg, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Hamilton, Hockney, Blake, and Jones).
Paul Klee, Klang aus Sizilien, 1924, Watercolor and Collage, 17,2 x 22,2 cm.
Peter and Irene Ludwig's large donation of U.S. American and British Pop Art also benefited the Graphic Collection: it brought a host of prints and many drawings to the collection, including works by Johns, Rauschenberg, Oldenburg, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Hamilton, Hockney, Blake and Jones.
Both Josef Haubrich as well as the Ludwigs were also keen to win over other collections for the Museum. So ultimately it was Haubrich's support that enabled the City of Cologne to acquire the Strecker Collection in 1958. With this, top works like Paul Klee's Sound of Sicily entered the Museum. Similarly the Ludwigs encouraged collectors such as Günther and Carola Peill to open their collections to the public. Through their donation, the house received 40 watercolours, drawings and prints by Ernst Wilhelm Nay, along with works by Emil Nolde, Klee and Wols.
In 1986 the new building for Museum Ludwig opened next to the cathedral. In the following years a sizeable number of artists felt moved to support the Museum and in particular the Graphic Collection. Among them have been Hann Trier, Hubert Berke, K. O. Götz, and Bernard Schultze, who in 2005 bequeathed his estate to the Museum.
In recent years the collection has been systematically augmented - above all in the field of contemporary art. Thus the museum now possesses for instance the complete editions of Marcel Broodthaers, Lucy McKenzie and - thanks to a donation by husband and wife collectors Ulrich Reininghaus and Anna Friebe-Reininghaus from Cologne - almost all of Sigmar Polke's. In addition have come batches of drawings by Rosemarie Trockel, Maria Lassnig and Jo Baer, and print series by Louise Bourgeois and Vija Celmins. Since 2004 the house has presented the larger of its newly acquired series in its imprint "Graphic Collection / Museum Ludwig".
Graphic Collection Series / Museum Ludwig
of the Reihe Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. by Julia Friedrich. Text bySince April 2008, new acquisitions have been regularly presented in the Graphic Collection's own series at Museum Ludwig. The columes are published to concur with exhibitions in which the museum's new graphic acquisitions are presented to the public.
Gerhard Rühm, Schriftbilder, vol. 1 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. Julia Friedrich, Cologne 2008, 15 p. with ill., softcover, 6,00 € order
Georg Baselitz, Remix, vol. 2 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. Julia Friedrich. Text by Isgard Kracht, Cologne 2008, 15 p. with ill., softcover, 6,00 € order
David Shrigley, Monotypien, vol. 3 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. Julia Friedrich. Text by Catrin Lorch, Cologne 2008, 15 p. with ill., softcover, 6,00 € order
Gerd Arntz, Holzschnitte, vol. 4 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. Julia Friedrich. Text by Lynette Roth, Cologne 2008, 15 p. with ill., softcover, 6,00 € order
Thomas Schütte, Bücher, vol. 5 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. Julia Friedrich. Text by Nina Gülicher, Cologne 2008, 19 p. with ill., softcover, 8,00 € order
Carroll Dunham, Arbeiten auf Papier, vol. 6 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. Julia Friedrich. Text by Kirsty Bell, Cologne 2009, 20 p. with ill., softcover, 9,80 € order
Sigmar Polke, Die Editionen, vol. 7 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. by Julia Friedrich. Text by Ulli Seegers, Cologne 2009, 20 p. with ill.., softcover., 19,80 € order
Louise Bourgeois, The Fragile, vol. 8 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. by Julia Friedrich. Text by Kerstin Stremmel, Cologne 2009, 16 p. with ill.., softcover, 9,80 € order
Mary Heilmann, Weather Repor, Bd. 9 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. by Julia Friedrich. Text by David Rhodes, Cologne 2009, 16 p., with ill., softcover., out of orint, 9,80 €
Lucy McKenzie, Editionen, Bd. 10 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. by Julia Friedrich. Text by Barbara Engelbach, Cologne 2010, 16 p. with ill., softcover., 9,80 € order
Bethan Huws, Zeichnungen, Bd. 11 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. by Julia Friedrich. Text by Julia Friedrich, Cologne 2010, 16 p. with ill., softcover, 9,80 € order
Carl Ostendarp, The, Bd. 12 of the series Grafische Sammlung / Museum Ludwig, ed. by Julia Friedrich. Text by Katy Siegel, Cologne 2011, 16 p. with ill., softcover, 9,80 € order
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