Keeping in the Present: 300 Years of the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinet

In 2020, the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett—a collection of prints, drawings, and photographs—is celebrating its three hundredth anniversary with a rare exhibition, showcasing the collection’s fragile and light-sensitive works on paper. The anniversary offers an occasion to present a number of little-seen masterpieces, including exceptional works by Jan van Eyck, Dürer, Verrocchio, Grünewald, Cranach, Holbein, Rembrandt, Caspar David Friedrich, Ludwig Richter, Toulouse-Lautrec, Mondrian, Hermann Glöckner, Gerhard Altenbourg, A. R. Penck, Georg Baselitz, and Evelyn Richter.

Keeping in the Present invites us to explore eighty-four masterpieces from the oldest publicly accessible specialist collection for art on paper in the German-speaking countries. Founded in 1720, the Kupferstich-Kabinett was intended as a universal collection, open to works from all periods and countries, and the current collection holds true to that past, featuring old masters and young, unknown artists alike. Works that were contemporary and still unknown at the time of their purchase are now among the most treasured items, held in equal esteem with works that entered the collection as acknowledged masterpieces. Keeping in the Present illustrates the innovative and democratic nature of the Kupferstich-Kabinett as a place of creativity, knowledge, critical thinking, and aesthetic pleasure.