Research plan 1999-2003
1999 - 2003
Objectives and Strategies for Research
As the only museum for visual arts which falls within the scope of Danish legislation on research at archives, libraries, museums, etc., Statens Museum for Kunst plays a natural and central part in Danish research on art history.
The museum is constantly working to promote the quality and scope of art-historical research, and also serves a significant function in providing the basis for art-historical research in Denmark as well as for international research on Danish art. The museum performs this function by making its rich archives and libraries available to Danish and international researches, and by striving to support and promote art-historical research through consultative activities and guidance. The museum wishes to further enhance and strengthen this function during the contract period by establishing better access to information on the museum collection. This will be done by preparing new inventories, by utilising the opportunities offered by the latest information technology, and by improving the impact made on research by the museum's vast collections of art literature by combining the museum libraries.
Thus, the museum will play a greater part in art-historical research, and will create the best possible conditions for a fruitful research environment. This will also bring about greater collaboration between Statens Museum for Kunst and Danish as well as international research environments at museums, universities, libraries, and photographic collections. The scope and quality of in-house research at the museum will also benefit from these initiatives.
In this context, the museum will play a more central part - e.g. through Art Index Denmark (KID) - as a central capacity within consultation on electronic communication and IT usage in art-historical research. This will be done on the basis of the vast knowledge acquired by the museum in connection with the establishment of an in-house art database, and will also mean that Art Index Denmark (KID) will be available on the Internet.
Research at Statens Museum for Kunst is characterised by taking the museum collections and activities as its point of departure, or by being relevant to them. As regards research on Danish art, the areas for research will be chosen with a view to having each individual project help to place Danish art within an international context, and to cultivate and strengthen low-profile, yet significant aspects of Danish art history.
Research projects normally result in communicative activities in the form of publications and exhibitions. This is to say that in addition to publications in the form of catalogues raisonné, exhibition catalogues, or articles, all research will usually form the basis of an exhibition, a new presentation, an acquisition, or some other visible, tangible result that can be presented to museum patrons.
Statens Museum for Kunst falls within the scope of Danish legislation on research at archives, libraries, museums, etc, and set up a Research Committee in 1997.
In 1996, the museum was subjected to international assessment of its art-historical research during the period 1990-95.
This assessment showed that overall, the research conducted at the museum during the period 1990 -95 was of international standards. The panel heaped particular praise on the efforts to present older Danish art to an international audience, the cataloguing of the museum's collection of older masterpieces, and the studies on Richard Mortensen.
The Panel recommends that the museum should seek to create a clearly defined profile as regards its future activities and that it should integrate research as a central feature of its overall activity. Moreover, the Panel points to the fact that the museum is insufficiently staffed within certain research areas, and that more research staff should be employed within the following areas: older foreign paintings, sculpture, graphic works, and preservation/restoration of contemporary art.
The panel emphasises that it is important to have the museum's research results published in English whenever possible, and to make an effort to promote and enhance communication of the research results made by the Conservation Department.
The assessment recommendations have sparked a series of initiatives regarding research, and have also caused the museum to make "Statens Museum for Kunst as a Centre of Art-Historical Research" one of the two main focus areas during the contract period.
It is also presupposed that research activities at the museum will be intensified during the last part of the contract period. This is to be effected by means of 1 - 2 new research positions.
During the contract period, Statens Museum for Kunst must:
Complete an average of three research projects each year.
Complete at least one major research project on communication and presentation of art for children.
Publish one catalogue raisonné each year.
Host at least two international research symposiums with Danish and international participants during the period.
Have at least one PhD-scholar finish his/her thesis each year.
Improve international visibility of the museum's art-historical research by publishing a research-based annual journal in English, and by ensuring that all exhibition catalogues with research objectives in mind are published in English versions.
Ensure that all research projects begin with a project description which provides details on the project concept, time schedule, central issues addressed, the estimated resources required, the overall relevance of the project, and the way in which the project results are to be communicated and presented.
Carry out new research assessment at the end of the contract period in order to follow up on the quality of the museum research.
Establish links between at least one member of the museum staff and an institute of higher education, e.g. by employing a lecturer/instructor or the like.
Research Projects during the period November 1999 - 2003
Research Schedule for the Royal Cast Collection
Chris Fischer
1999-2001:
Central Italian Drawings at the Royal Cast Collection. Completion of a profusely illustrated catalogue raisonné in English, detailing this part of the collection. This project was strengthened in 1997 through external funding for a six-month research period, to be effected through employment of a temporary assistant. A selection of these drawings will be exhibited at the museum during the period February - May 2001. This will be followed by exhibitions at three museums in the US, featuring selected drawings. The catalogue raisonné will serve as the basis for preparing a publication in English.
Estimated research period: 12 months (within the standard work schedule).
2001-2003:
Venetian Drawings at the Royal Cast Collection. Commencing preparation of profusely illustrated catalogue raisonné in English. A selection of the drawings included in this project will be exhibited at the museum. This will be followed by exhibitions at three museums in the US, featuring selected drawings. The catalogue raisonné will serve as the basis for preparing a publication in English. The project will also include various articles and participation in international conventions and symposiums.
Estimated research period: 36 months (within the standard work schedule).
Jan Garff
1999-2003:
Drawings by Rembrandt's students at the Royal Cast Collection. This project encompasses research within the 17th century drawings executed by artists belonging to the circle around Rembrandt (his students and contemporaries). As experience shows that many drawings have been allocated outside their natural geographic domain due to erroneous attribution, this study will also include a systematic survey of Danish and foreign drawings from this period, as well as a systematic survey of the abundant collection of drawings by as-yet unidentified artists (approximately 450). The results of this project will be published in a profusely illustrated catalogue raisonné in English to be published in connection with an exhibition of all the drawings included in the project. Possibly exhibitions at three different museums in the US, showing a selection of the drawings. The catalogue raisonné will serve as the basis for preparing a publication in English.
Estimated research period: 30 months (within the standard work schedule) and six months with external funding (used to establish a temporary position).
2000-2002:
Additions and various adjustments to Inger Hjorth Nielsen's inventory Søren Hjorth Nielsen, Det grafiske værk [Søren Hjorth Nielsen - Graphic Works"]. This project will involve the preparation and planning of a retrospective exhibition, primarily featuring prints and a few drawings and watercolours by Søren Hjorth Nielsen. The exhibition will be held around the centennial of his birth, and will be accompanied by a publication.
Estimated research period: 6 months (within the standard work schedule).
2000-2003:
Preparation of two-three articles on Dutch drawings and prints, mainly from the 17th century. The first article will include the publication of a hitherto unheeded drawn prototype for Adriaen van Ostade's etching The Barn from 1647.
Estimated research period: 6 months (within the standard work schedule)
Vibeke Knudsen
1999-2000:
Planning of the exhibition Goya. Image and Reality. Completion of an article for the catalogue, explanatory texts for the works of art included in the exhibition, and editing of the other articles and texts featured in the catalogue.
Estimated research period: 6 months (of which 1 ½ months outside the normal working schedule).
2000-2003:
The following articles for the Statens Museum for Kunst Journal:
The museum's collection of drawings will provide the starting point for close studies of works by Karen Kilimnik, Elke Krystufek, and Elisabeth Payton. Working title: When pulp becomes art. The article will also aim at a possible future exhibition to be held within the special project venue at the museum.
Estimated research period: 6 months (within the standard work schedule)
Article on a 1970s photographic series entitled Circumstances by Kirsten Justesen. This article is conceived as forming the basis for a small-scale exhibition.
Estimated research period: 6 months (within the standard work schedule).
Cataloguing project: Possible commencement of cataloguing of the museum collections of Danish and foreign drawings from the period 1980 - approximately 2000.
Estimated research period: This is a long-term project which will extend beyond 2003; it will initially be carried out within the standard work schedule.
Jan Würtz Frandsen
1999-2000:
"Le Tableau Développé". A Dialogue with Jean Arp. Years of research on Richard Mortensen's oeuvre will form the basis for an investigation of one particular aspect: the polychrome reliefs, seen partly from a formal and iconological perspective, partly on the background of the concretist surface/space problematic and the development of the modernist relief during the first half of the 20th century. The primary approach will concern an analysis of the artist's relationship to the work of Jean Arp. The result will be published as an article in the Statens Museum for Kunst Journal 1999.
Estimated research period: 3 months (outside the normal working schedule).
1999-2001:
French 19th and 20th century Drawing at the Royal Cast Collection. Completion of a profusely illustrated catalogue raisonné in English, to be published in the spring of 2001. This project began in 1997 with careful collection of data and scientific processing regarding approximately 450 French drawings. This first project stage was boosted by external funding for a six-month research period. The project will include a travelling exhibition in the US, featuring selected drawings. The catalogue raisonné will serve as the basis for preparing a publication in English.
Estimated research period: 12 months (within the standard work schedule).
2000-2003:
Continued studies on Richard Mortensen on the basis of the registration of the Mortensen donation at the Royal Cast Collection and the archives at Statens Museum for Kunst with a view to producing articles for publication in the Statens Museum for Kunst Journal.
PhD projects at the Royal Collection of Prints and Drawings
Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen
1999-2000:
A study of the aesthetics and function of German Renaissance drawing in relation to German thought and art theory of the age. This project will be concluded by a PhD-thesis in 2000, and will also result in the publication of articles in the Statens Museum for Kunst Journal and other relevant journals. A profusely illustrated catalogue raisonné of the German drawings of this period held by the Royal Cast Collection will also be published in connection with an exhibition in November 2000 - January 2001. A selection of these drawings will be published at three different museums in the US. The catalogue raisonné will serve as the basis for a publication in English.
Estimated research period for completion of a PhD thesis and catalogue raisonné and exhibition: 5 months + 4 months
Joachim Meyer
2001-2003:
Neapolitan drawings. This project, which is based on a PhD thesis from 1999, will result in the production of a profusely illustrated catalogue raisonné. The intention is to have this catalogue published in connection with an exhibition at the museum, possibly in 2002. This project will include a travelling exhibition in the US, featuring selected drawings. The catalogue raisonné will serve as the basis for a publication in English.
Estimated research period for catalogue raisonné and exhibition: 10 months (This project receives partial external funding. Allocation within the museum budget: 4 months)
Research project with external funding at the Royal Cast Collection
2000-2001:
Reflections of everyday life. An application for funds has been submitted to the CultureNet Denmark Fund with a view to carrying out research on a number of graphic works which depict 16th and 17th century life and manners, and which have not been described in a scholarly context before. This project will include sheets which have been addressed in the previous research project on the graphic publication activities of the Visscher family. The results of this project will be published through CultureNet Denmark.
Estimated research period: 12 months (partly funded by external funding).
Research plan for the Royal Collection of Painting and Sculpture and the Royal Cast Collection
The Cast Collection
Inge Dybbro
1999 - 31. 8. 2000 (temporary position):
In-depth studies of Wiedewelt's and Abildgaard's massive purchases, made in Rome, of plaster replicas of statues from antiquity to be used at the Academy of Fine Arts. The objective of these studies will be to create a basis for assessing and putting into perspective the significance of plaster casts from antiquity and up until our present time. The results will be presented by means of an article in the SMK Journal.
Estimated research period: 10 months (within the standard work schedule).
Foreign Art 1300 - 1600:
Hanne Kolind Poulsen
1999-2002:
Research within the German field with especial focus on the museum collection of works by the artist Lucas Cranach the Older. Initially, this will entail production of 3-4 articles to serve as the research basis for an exhibition on Lucas Cranach.
A potential exhibition project on Lucas Cranach the Older in 2002 - pending the final decision, which is projected for the end of 1999. The preparation and planning of this exhibition will entail the preparation of a proper concept, preparation of an inventory of works, preparation of one or several articles for the exhibition catalogue, as well as editing of all other contributions to the catalogue.
Estimated research period: 30 months (within the standard work schedule).
Foreign Art 1600 - 1800:
Olaf Koester
1999:
Preparation of a catalogue raisonné of the museum's collection of Flemish painting from the 17th and 18th centuries. This catalogue comprises approximately 190 works of art, created by 76 named and 5 anonymous artists. Final editing and language editing of the English translation.
Estimated research period: 1½ months (within the standard work schedule).
1999-2000:
Editing in connection with the publication of an English publication for the exhibition Painted Illusions: The Art of Cornelius Gijsbrechts at the National Gallery in London 2000.
Estimated research period: 1 month (within the standard work schedule).
2000-2001:
Research on Dutch 17th century still-life painting with a view to producing 2 articles, including one article on one of the museum's still lifes of meals from the second quarter of the 17th century and a number of works which can be attributed to the same artist.
Estimated research period: 8 months (within the standard work schedule).
2002-2003:
Studies on the new additions made to the museum collections of older foreign art during the period 1985-98 with a view to producing 2 articles, in which some of these acquisitions are addressed and published.
Estimated research period: 10 months (within the standard work schedule).
The research communicated in the articles will be reflected in the presentation of this particular segment of the museum collections.
Danish Art 1700 - 1850:
Kasper Monrad
1999-2000:
Article on the narrative aspects of Hammershøi's art, entitled "Untold Stories" for the museum catalogue in connection with the exhibition Symbolism. In Danish and European Painting 1870-1910.
Estimated research period: 3 months (within the normal work schedule).
2000-2002:
Preparation and organisation of the exhibition N.A. Abildgaard. Preparation of a proper concept, preparation of an inventory of works, preparation of one or several articles for the exhibition catalogue, and editing of the other contributions to the catalogue.
Estimated research period: 15 months (within the normal work schedule).
2001-2004:
Preparation and organisation of the exhibition Turner and Constable. Preparation of a proper concept, preparation of an inventory of works, preparation of one or several articles for the exhibition catalogue, and editing of the other contributions to the catalogue.
Estimated research period: 30 months (within the normal work schedule).
Danish Art 1850 - 1900:
Peter Nørgaard Larsen
1999-2000:
Planning of the exhibition Symbolism. In Danish and European Painting 1870-1910. Preparation of 2-3 articles, descriptive texts for each work included, editing of the other contributions to the catalogue (3-4).
Estimated research period: 12 months (within the standard work schedule)
2000-2002:
Preparation and organisation of the exhibition L.A. Ring. Preparation of a proper concept, preparation of an inventory of works, preparation of one or several articles for the exhibition catalogue, and editing of the other contributions to the catalogue.
Estimated research period: 18 months within the standard work schedule + 6 months of research with external funding for temporary assistance.
20th Century Art 1900 - 1960:
Dorthe Aagesen
1999-2002:
Research within early modernism. Initially, this will entail the presentation of the museum's collection of Danish and international early modernism through 3-4 articles, which will provide the research basis for an exhibition on this theme.
The first tangible result will be an article on Jais Nielsen's picture Circus Performance. Trapeze Artists, 1916 (KMS 7389), as seen in the light of the international avant-garde of the time.
Estimated research period: 3 months (within the standard work schedule)
A potential exhibition project on Danish and International Avant-garde 1910-20 in 2002 - pending the final decision, which is projected for the end of 1999. The preparation and planning of this exhibition will entail the preparation of a proper concept, preparation of an inventory of works, preparation of one or several articles for the exhibition catalogue, as well as editing of all other contributions to the catalogue.
Estimated research period: 30 months (within the standard work schedule).
20th Century Art 1960 - present day:
Marianne Torp Øckenholt
1999-2000:
Preparation and planning of the Venice Project: Peter Bonde and Jason Roades (transfer of the project from Italy to Denmark and presentation of the project at the museum). Preparation of an article for the Statens Museum for Kunst catalogue, as well as an essay in connection with the opening to celebrate the arrival of the Venice project in Denmark.
Estimated research period: 3 months (within the standard work schedule).
1999-2001(2):
Preparation and organisation of exhibition on American Art, including the preparation of a final exhibition concept. This will be carried out in collaboration with Vibeke Petersen. Preparation of an inventory of works, preparation of one or several articles for the exhibition catalogue, and editing of the other contributions to the catalogue.
Estimated research period: 12 months (8 months within the standard work schedule and 4 months of research involving temporary assistance).
1999-2003:
Preparation and planning of projects at the museum project venue. Small texts in connection with these projects, to be published in-house, as well as 3-4 articles and essays for journals in connection with the project venue and the artists presented.
Estimated research period: 12 months (within the standard work schedule).
20th Century Art 1960 - present day:
Vibeke Petersen (Head of Department with research privileges)
1999-2001(2):
Article for the SMK Journal on the works of Robert Smithson.
Estimated research period: 3 months (within the standard work schedule). Deadline February 2000.
Preparation and organisation of an exhibition on American art, including the development of a final exhibition concept. This will be carried out in collaboration with Marianne Øckenholt.
Estimated research period: 6 months (3 months within the standard work schedule, 3 months outside the standard work schedule).
In connection with a lectureship at the Department of Comparative Literature (teaching students on their way to an MA in Modern Culture), the subject taught from the fall of 1999 to the summer of 2000 was "American Space in Art through Two Centuries". Preparation of one or several articles for the exhibition catalogue.
Estimated research period: 12 months (mainly outside of the standard work schedule).
PhD projects at the Royal Collection of Painting and Sculpture
1999-2000:
Lene Bøgh Rønberg: The impact of 17th century Dutch art on Danish art during the period 1800-1875.
Mette Højsgaard: The Significance of Danish-French Connections to the International Development of Concrete Art 1945-1960.
2000-2003:
The museum has been awarded funding from the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs for a PhD project on museology: the Museum as a historical and contemporary phenomenon. Applications will be invited shortly.
Research plan for the Conservation Department
Henrik Bjerre
2000-2001:
Collection of documentation with a view to research on painting techniques and the state of preservation of the museum's collection of Henri Matisse and his French Contemporaries. This will be carried out in collaboration with Mette Bjarnhof. One of the main objectives of this project is to prepare a conservation strategy for the paintings, ideally in connection with international collaboration. Article in the SMK Journal.
Estimated research period: 6 months (within the standard work schedule).
Troels Filtenborg
2000:
Article for the SMK Journal on Filippino Lippi's Joachim and Anna Reunited outside the Golden Gates of Jerusalem (KMSSp40) - on the restoration and studies of the painting techniques of this work. This article will be prepared in collaboration with Ashok Roy from the National Gallery, London.
Estimated research period: 2½ months (within the standard work schedule).
2000-2001:
Technical studies of painting techniques of the painting Cave Madonna (unknown artist, early copy from the original by Leonardo da Vinci, KMSSp39) with a view to placing this work within its appropriate context in terms of technological history, thus placing it more precisely in relation to the two versions by Leonardo at the National Gallery in London and at the Louvre. This project aims at establishing collaboration with the Scientific Department at the National Gallery, and possibly the Laboratoire de Récherche at the Louvre. The project will be presented/communicated by means of a focus exhibition.
Estimated research period: 18 months (within the standard work schedule).
Final project, the School of Conservation:
Louise Cone
1999-2001:
A survey to identify the need for preservation/restoration of the museum collection of modern art, and the issues arising from this need, with a view to developing a management model for the practise of preservation/restoration for this part of the collections. This will include the development of a method for analysis and collection of data to be used for individual works. This project is part of the integrated pan-European, Internet-based conservation project INCCA, and the idea is for the finished model to form part of the museum's electronic archive/filing system.
Estimated research period: 24 months
Research Schedule for the Education Department
Elisabeth Cederstrøm
1999-2000(1):
Presenting Art to Children and Young People. The objective of this research is to create a theoretical, scientific basis for the Children's Art Museum. In 1997, this research brought about a "Strategy and Action Plan for the Children's Art Museum", as well as a series of lectures given on various occasions and in different contexts during the following period. The project is to be concluded by an article in the Statens Museum for Kunst Journal.
Estimated research period: 2 months (within the standard work schedule)
