Images & Texts

The Städel Museum’s treasures comprise a comprehensive collection of Italian Renaissance drawings. This collection includes prized sheets by such outstanding artists as Michelangelo, Raphael, Correggio, or Titian, as well as drawings by anonymous masters of the fifteenth century and less known artists of the sixteenth century like Giulio Romano, Sebastiano del Piombo, or Taddeo Zuccari. “Raphael to Titian. Italian Drawings from the Städel Museum”, on show in the exhibition gallery of the Department of Prints and Drawings from 8 October 2014 to 11 January 2015, offers an exemplary selection of these valuable holdings, most of which were part of Johann Friedrich Städel’s foundation donation; in the mid-nineteenth century, these holdings were extended by Johann David Passavant to form a collection of the first order. The array of about ninety drawings visualizes the variety of an era which – with the discovery of America, conflicting confessions, and a new beginning in the natural sciences – was such a decisive period for Europe. The presentation centers around High-Renaissance works of the early sixteenth century as its art-historical pivot and not only ensures an experience of the utmost perfection in drawing. It also illustrates the various artistic movements of that epoch, the draftsmen’s working methods, and the functions of drawings and sheds light on the history of collecting in the Städel.

The Städel Museum continues the series “In the Städel Garden” with an extraordinary presentation dedicated to Franz Erhard Walther (b. 1939). The artist’s Walking Pedestals and Places to Stand will be on display on the museum’s freely accessible greens from 17 September to 23 November 2014. The internationally much-noticed artist began developing this group of works for outdoors, which made him a key figure of Minimal and Performance Art, in the early 1970s. With their reduced forms, the minimalist ground elements formed of steel invite the viewer to a walk-on tour of his work. Pacing off the plinths, the visitor turns into the material of the sculptural process. Franz Erhard Walther’s Walking Pedestals and Places to Stand in the front and back garden areas offer surprising lines of sight and new perspectives of the museum and its environs. The exhibition will be opened with a talk between Franz Erhard Walther and Dr. Martin Engler, Head of the Contemporary Art Collection of the Städel, in the Metzler Hall on Tuesday, 16 September at 7:00 pm; visitors are welcome to a tour of the grounds with the artist after the talk. A further tour through the exhibition with Franz Erhard Walther on Sunday, 21 September at 3:00 pm and a lecture held by the artist in the Städel Museum on Thursday, 16 October at 7:00 pm will provide the interested public with additional insights into the artist’s oeuvre.