Description [EN]
In Cologne, the Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur preserves the August Sander Archiv as the central collection of August Sander’s photographic work. It serves the scholarly preservation, research and presentation of his estate.
The collection was sold in 1992 by the heirs to the Kulturstiftung der Stadtsparkasse Köln (today SK Stiftung Kultur der Sparkasse KölnBonn) and has since been managed by the Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur. All rights of use to Sander’s work are held by the institution in an exclusive form without territorial, substantive or temporal limitation; their exercise is carried out in cooperation with VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Relocations took the archive from St.-Apern-Straße (1992–1996) to premises at Im Mediapark 7, Cologne.
At the time of acquisition the estate included approximately 10,700 original negatives, around 3,500 original prints, private correspondence, the library, as well as furniture and photographic equipment. Through targeted additions the archive holdings now comprise over 6,000 original prints and thus represent the most comprehensive collection of August Sander worldwide. Significant further holdings with original prints are located, among others, in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Modern Art New York, the Pinakothek der Moderne München, the Sammlung Fotografie im Museum Ludwig Köln and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. In addition, further German and international photographic holdings have been attached to the institution, including archives and groups of works by important representatives of documentary-conceptual photography.
The Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur pursues its museum-based work in accordance with ethical guidelines and conservation standards: preservation, research, supplementation through new acquisitions, and public outreach via publications and rotating exhibitions. A central theme of the holdings is the project "Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts", which exists in book form and has been shown repeatedly. There is no permanent exhibition devoted to Sander’s work; works from the archive are regularly incorporated into the changing exhibition programme.
Since 2017 the institution has awarded the August-Sander-Preis biennially to support young, internationally active photographers up to 40 years of age with a focus on portraiture; the prize carries an award of €5,000 and may be accompanied by an exhibition in Cologne. Twelve images from the archive have also been issued as limited digital art prints in editions of 150 each; the prints are based on new prints from original large-format negative plates or on reproductions of original prints.