Projects

PHAROS

PHAROS is an international consortium of fourteen European and North American art historical photographic collections and archives. The goal of the initiative is to present the holdings of the separate archives in one single database, and to make digital images and metadata available to researchers. An initial impression of this work is provided by the PHAROS Art Research Database which, until now, contains only a small amount of data but allows a non-semantic search for images and thus the identification of similar or identical works within the individual collections. The project will make the digitised holdings of the consortium (approximately 30 million photographs in total) available for research over the next few years.

Bildindex/Consortium of Art-Historical Photographic Collections (AKBF)

Since 1999, the photographic collection has been a partner of the digital "Bildindex der Kunst- und Architektur" provided for research and teaching purposes by the German Documentation Centre for Art History (DDK) – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg. In cooperation with the DDK and the photographic archives of other German research and cultural institutions, the photographic collection also participates in the "Consortium of Art-Historical Photographic Collections" founded in 2004.

Graphikportal/"Graphik vernetzt" Project

The photographic collection has been a member of the "Graphik vernetzt" working group since 2013. The group's aim is to achieve agreement on common digitisation standards and the development of strategies required to advance the digital networking of graphic collections. On its behalf, the DDK - Bildarchiv Foto Marburg operates the "Graphikportal" in which the graphic holdings of the art collection of the Bibliotheca Hertziana are fully accessible.

Online Exhibitions

Within the Online Exhibitions, the Photographic Collection features a series of image galleries devoted to a wide range of themes at irregular intervals. They reflect current projects of the scientists, research groups, and departments of the institute, as well as initiatives of the Photographic Collection itself, such as special photographic campaigns, areas of particular strength, and holdings by particular photographers.

Corpus Photographicum of Drawings (Corpus Gernsheim)

In 2002, Jutta Lauke-Gernsheim and Walter Gernsheim, founders of the "Corpus Photographicum of Drawings", presented the Bibliotheca Hertziana with a complete set of prints (approximately 193,000 photographs).  The donation was completed in 2013 when all the negatives of the Corpus were transferred to the photographic collection along with the photographer's rights. As a result of the ongoing research on the Corpus, largely unpublished material is being added to the photographic collection. The photographic collection has been hosting annual conferences on research on drawing since 2012.

Events Drawings "Gernsheim-Studientage"

• 04.–07.03.2025: Mettere mano. Reworking Early Modern Drawings, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch, Francesca Borgo, Johannes Röll
• 06.–08.03.2024: Exploring Rome through Drawing in the 16th Century, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch, Tanja Michalsky, Johannes Röll
• 10.–12.05.2023: Accident or Strategy. The Collecting of Drawings in 16th and 17th Century Italy, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch, Johannes Röll and Claire Van Cleave
• 24.09.2019: Gernsheim-Research Seminar: Von verlorenen Fäden und neuen Verknüpfungen. Die Bestände italienischer Cinquecento-Zeichnungen in Dresden und der "Kosmos" Gernsheim, Speaker: Dr. des. Marion Heisterberg
• 21.–23.11.2018: Das Ende der Architekturzeichnung? Darstellungsmodi und Baupraxis zwischen 20. und 21. Jahrhundert, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch, Anne Scheinhardt, Johannes Röll and Vitale Zanchettin
• 25.–27.10.2017: Farbe auf Zeichnungen der frühen Neuzeit – Symbiose und Antagonismus, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch, Iris Brahms and Johannes Röll
• 16.–18.11.2016: Abbreviaturen, Formeln und Chiffren in der Zeichnung der Frühen Neuzeit, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch and Johannes Röll
• 11.–13.11.2015: Renaissance-Zeichnungen für und nach Skulptur, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch and Johannes Röll
• 14.–15.11.2013: Zeichnen und Zeichner im Rom des 18. Jahrhunderts Grandtour, Kunstmarkt und Kunstexport, scientific coordination: Susanne A. Meyer, Stefan Morét and Johannes Röll
• 28.–29.11.2012: Zeichnungen im Fokus – Focus on Drawings. Studientag zu Ehren von Jutta Gernsheim und in memoriam Walter Gernsheim, scientific coordination: Stefan Morét and Johannes Röll

Corpus of Italian Drawings from 1300–1500

The Corpus of Italian drawings from 1300–1500 is one of the most important undertakings of the history of art related to drawings. Founded by Annegrit Schmitt-Degenhart and Bernhard Degenhart, its focus is on Italian drawings of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, which have so far appeared in 15 volumes. The Corpus was donated by Annegrit Schmitt-Degenhart to the photographic collection of the Bibliotheca Hertziana in 2018 and complements its comprehensive collection of drawings.

Rare Photographs Department

Many of the oldest holdings of the photographic collection date back to the donation of Henriette Hertz. Due to their condition, and in accordance with the criteria of historical photographic technology, these have been archived under improved conservation conditions, and catalogued and digitised since 2012.

Fototeca Unione

The "Fototeca dell'Unione di arte post-antica romana" has been built up since 1956 with the support of the Italian and international cultural institutes of the "Unione Internazionale degli Istituti di Archeologia, Storia e Storia dell'Arte in Roma". The American Academy in Rome maintains a corresponding department for photographs of antique art. The Fototeca Unione comprises approximately 25,000 photographs, which are incorporated in the photographic collection of the Bibliotheca Hertziana.

Studies in the History and Theory of Photography

Object based studies in the history and theory of photography are central to the research projects of the Photographic Collection. The process of digitization of photographs places them between update and historicism. Photographs are therefore to be regarded both as objects in their own right as well as carrier of information of objects within a scientific discourse, thus also enabling further contextualisation within the humanities. The role of the collection as a cultural archive within the history of medial and institutional changes as well as the factuality of photographs in altering usages and circumstances are actively pursued themes that have also been the subject of conferences (Factuality and utilisation of early photography), lecture series (Dunkelkammergespräche/Conversazioni sulla Camera Oscura), workshops (Pharos-Meeting; The Art Historical Image in the Digital Age) and Studienkurse (Circulating Photographs: Materials, Practices, Institutions).

Events Photography

• 17.–21.03.2025: Centers and Peripheries. Photography’s Geography Lessions. Photo-Historical Seminar organized by Tatjana Bartsch, Luke Gartlan, Johannes Röll, Steffen Siegel
• 26.–27.09.2024: Quo vadis Provenance Research? Primary Sources and Archival Collections in Post-Unitarian Italy, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch, Alice Cazzola, Katharina Hüls-Valenti, Johannes Röll
• 28.11.2023: Elizabeth Otto (State University of New York at Buffalo): Max Peiffer Watenphul: Photography and the Queer Bauhaus!, Venue: Casa di Goethe, scientific coordination: Gregor H. Lersch, Tatjana Bartsch, Johannes Röll
• 13.10.2023: Roland Meyer (Ruhr-University of Bochum): Generic Pastness. AI Image Synthesis and the Virtualization of the Archive, scientific coordination: Johannes Röll
• 20.–24.03.2023: Archival Absences: An Incomplete History of Photography. Photo-Historical Seminar organized by Tatjana Bartsch, Elisabeth Otto, Johannes Röll, Steffen Siegel
• 18.03.–22.03.2019: Studienkurs Fotografie Circulating Photographs, Materials, Practices, Institutions. Studienkurs mit der Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen, organized by Tatjana Bartsch, Antonella Pelizzari, Johannes Röll and Steffen Siegel
• 04.–11.2017: Dunkelkammergespräche – Conversazioni sulla Camera Oscura, Lecture series by the Photographic Collection of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut and Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome (7 Lectures)
• 22.03.–24.03.2017: Faktizität und Gebrauch früher Fotografie. Studientage der Fototheken der Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte und des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Rom, scientific coordination: Tatjana Bartsch, Johannes Röll, Paul Pasieka and Ralf Bockmann
• 09.04.2016: Forum Kunstgeschichte Italiens, Fünfte Arbeitstagung, Plenarsektion III: Die Frühzeit der Fotografie in Italien, organized by Tatjana Bartsch, Johannes Röll and Costanza Caraffa
   

Publications

• Johannes Röll, “Campagne fotografiche e Villa Giulia – ‘il buon dio sta nel dettaglio’”, in Intorno a Villa Giulia. Aggiornamenti e nuove ricerche, ed. Valentina Balzarotti, Serena Quagliaroli, Roma 2024 (Horti Hesperidum, 2023, H. 1), pp. 47–64.
• Johannes Röll, „Hilde Bauer e Bernhard Degenhart. Vita e lavoro in Italia negli anni Trenta / Hilde Bauer and Bernhard Degenhart. Living and working in Italy in the 1930s”, in Hilde in Italy. Art and Life in the Photographs of Hilde Lotz-Bauer / Hilde in Italia. Arte e vita nelle fotografie di Hilde Lotz-Bauer, ed. Federica Kappler, Corinna Lotz, exh. catalog, Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Roma 2024, pp. 78–111.
• Regine Schallert, “Hilde Bauer a Roma (1934–1939) e la fotografia per la ricerca storico-artistica / Hilde Bauer in Rome (1934–1939). Photography for art historical research”, in Hilde in Italy. Art and Life in the Photographs of Hilde Lotz-Bauer / Hilde in Italia. Arte e vita nelle fotografie di Hilde Lotz-Bauer, ed. Federica Kappler, Corinna Lotz, exh. catalog, Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Roma 2024, pp. 112–137.
• Tatjana Bartsch, „Faktizität und Gebrauch früher Fotografie. Eine Annäherung“, in Faktizität und Gebrauch früher Fotografie, ed. Tatjana Bartsch, Ralf Bockmann, Paul P. Pasieka, Johannes Röll, Wiesbaden 2021 (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Archäologie und der Altertumswissenschaften, 3), pp. 17–29.
• Tatjana Bartsch, Johannes Röll et al., „Der Messerschleifer in der Fotothek. Einleitenden Bemerkungen zu Verwendungskontexten früher Fotografie“, in Faktizität und Gebrauch früher Fotografie, ed. Tatjana Bartsch, Ralf Bockmann, Paul P. Pasieka, Johannes Röll, Wiesbaden 2021 (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Archäologie und der Altertumswissenschaften, 3), pp. 1–16.
• Regina Deckers, “Philpot’s photos as part of a professional collection for studies in drawings at the Bibliotheca Hertziana”, in: Engraving, plaster cast, photographs, ed. Júlia Papp, Budapest 2021, pp. 107–116.
• Faktizität und Gebrauch früher Fotografie, Internationale Tagung der Fototheken des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Rom und der Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, 22.–24. März 2017, ed. Tatjana Bartsch, Ralf Bockmann, Paul P. Pasieka, Johannes Röll, Wiesbaden 2021 (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Archäologie und der Altertumswissenschaften, 3).
• Johannes Röll, „Rezension zu: Wolfgang Ullrich, Selfies, Berlin 2019“, Rundbrief Fotografie – Analoge und digitale Bildmedien in Archiven und Sammlungen 27 (2020), pp. 54–56.
• Regine Schallert, "Auf der Suche nach der guten Form. Die Italienreise des belgischen Architekten Jules Brunfaut (1852–1942)", in Blickwendungen: Architektenreisen nach Italien in Moderne und Gegenwart (Römische Studien der Bibliotheca Hertziana, vol. 45), ed. Kai Kappel and Erik Wegerhoff, Munich: Hirmer Verlag 2019, pp. 173–188 (photo albums of Jules Brunfaut).
• Regine Schallert and Johannes Röll, "La Fototeca della Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck Institute for Art History)", in Immagini e memoria, Gli Archivi fotografici di Istituzioni culturali della città di Roma, Atti del convegno, Roma, Palazzo Barberini, 3 to 4. December 2012, ed. Barbara Fabjan, Rome 2014, pp. 169–182.
• Regine Schallert, "Die Fotothek: ...dass ein Forscher jedwedes Material hier einsehen kann", in 100 Jahre Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte. Volume I: Die Geschichte des Instituts 1913–2013, ed. Sybille Ebert-Schifferer in collaboration with Marieke von Bernstorff, Munich 2013, pp. 226–245, 310–314.
• Regine Schallert, "Kunstschutz und Fotografie: Sonderführer (Z) Hans Werner Schmidt", in Kunsthistoriker im Krieg – Deutscher Militärischer Kunstschutz in Italien 1943–1945 (Publications of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in München, Volume 29), ed. Christian Fuhrmeister, Johannes Griebel, Stephan Klingen and Ralf Peters, Cologne 2012, pp. 247–262.
• Regine Schallert, "I tesori nascosti d'Italia: l'archivio dello studio Foto arte minore di Max Hutzel", in Photo Archives and the Photographic Memory of Art History, ed. Costanza Caraffa, Berlin/Hamburg 2011, pp. 335–346.