As a technical generic term, “prints” describes a type of art that is often regarded as being “inferior” or “old-fashioned”. This prejudice no longer applies to art of the 20th and 21st century. But what does still hold is the fact that works on paper and photographs may never be on yearlong display due to the danger of exposure to too much light, and thus, they may only be exhibited for short periods of time.
Seen from a positive standpoint, this means that the necessary change in the presentation of the works of art makes it worth your while to come to the Museum often!
The Kunstmuseum Bonn collects prints (i.e., etchings, copper engravings, silk-screens, etc.) but also drawings and artists’ books on an international basis, thus deviating from the collection strategy it otherwise maintains at the Museum (with its focus on German art). The collection of the Museum comprises a good 5000 works, and is thus small to medium-size in scope, though it does contain a few very special works.
There are important groups of works in the area of Rhenish Expressionism, artist’s books made by Max Ernst, the Multiples and drawings by Joseph Beuys, works on paper by Hanne Darboven, Blinky Palermo, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Franz Erhard Walther, as well as prints by Günther Förg, Eduardo Chillida and English and American Pop Art. In the field of contemporary art, special mention must be made of recent drawings, as well as large-format wood engravings by Gert and Uwe Tobias.