Beschreibung:
AbstractThis article reviews the display of Baroque ivories in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich (hereafter BNM), drawing on the history of the museum in general and a festschrift that documented the museum's history from the 1870s to 2005 (Eikelmann 2006) ‐ to explore the place of Baroque ivories in various generations of display. Starting with a comprehensive historical overview on the formation of the different collections of ivories that were to be united in the BNM, the survey will primarily focus on the differences in conception, presentation, aesthetic decisions and didactic aims. The different exhibition rooms are partially documented through historical photographs, surviving object lists for the permanent exhibition rooms and the published visitors’ guides to the collection, starting with the first volume in 1868. Somewhat exceptionally, the exhibition display was also the subject of an article published in 1924 by Rudolf Berliner (–1967), at the time the BNM′s curator responsible for the ivory collection. That article introduced his ideas about the display of the ivories. Together all these sources bear witness to the metamorphoses of the presentation of the Baroque ivories from the first building of the BNM in Maximilianstrasse (Figure 1) originally founded by King Maximilian II. Joseph of Bavaria in 1855 and opened to the public in 1867, to the second building of the museum in Prinzregentenstrasse (Figure 2), opened to the public in 1900. Finally, this article tracks the fundamental changes of display in the second and present building of the BNM that can be followed throughout the course of the 20th up to the beginning of the 21st century. In the wake of the installation of a new permanent exhibition for the Baroque ivories on the upper level of the BNM, opening summer of 2018, the survey also aims to justify the decisions made in the planning of these galleries: retaining traditions and aiming to suggest new ideas for the display of the Baroque ivories.