VENUE & DATE -- CFP -- PROGRAMME

VENUE & DATE

Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan

Collegium Maius, ul. Fredry 10

Salon Mickiewicza

Friday, May 30

Museum Palace in Rogalin

Rogalin, ul. Arciszewskiego 2

CFP

The relationship between private collecting and public museums formation has a long trajectory in the history of museums. Over the last three centuries, private collecting has developed swiftly around the world. Although initially it was an activity reserved for privileged groups, reflecting acquisitive interests of a wealthy individuals and their advisers, over the time it covered almost all circles of society. Since the 18th century private collectors have been opening their collections to the public. Apart from the princely and aristocratic collections, in the 19th century also bankers, industrialists, art dealers and connoisseurs, as well as doctors, artists and representatives of the intelligentsia more and more often made their collections available. The existence of collections opened to the public frequently ended with the death of collectors and the subsequent sale of their property. Sometimes, however, private collection turned into a private museum, which material existence was ensured by funds left by collectors and managed by their family, heirs or a special foundation. Established in this way centuries ago, private museums often function to this day in private hands, as a part of foundations formed by the collectors themselves, or transformed into a state institution. Private collections and museums currently owned by the state and managed by public museums are often arranged with respect for the private history of the collections and the original concept of the founder. Usually, the latter are located within the collectors' residences as to some extent, it was almost a rule that private collections were made available within collectors' homes - in apartments, city palaces or country residences. Less often, collectors founded special buildings dedicated to gather, display and make their collections available to the public.

The conference will be dedicated to private collections open to the public. Although there are many important aspects related to the functioning of private collections, we are not interested in the history of private collections, their establishment and content, nor in the shaping of collections on the art market. Investigating the relationship between private collections and public sphere we are interested in different types of private museums, from art and science collections open to the public, to houses of famous personalities (e.g. artists’ ateliers, writers' houses).

We aim to reflect mostly on such problems as:

1. Accessibility of collections (On what terms collections were accessible and available for the public? What was the legal and organizational framework and principles of visiting the collections? How museums facilitate access to the collection and how the idea of accessibility has change over time base, since the moment of foundation of collection to the present day?).
2. Display of collections (How individual concepts of collectors are visible in a display? What was the impact of exhibitions in public museums on the arrangement of private collections? What are the methods of displaying private collections after transformation into public institution - preserving the arrangement proposed by the collector or rethinking the old concept, and opening to new exhibition trends?).
3. Collectors and their vision (How collectors’ original intentions manifested themselves in their museums and how is it maintained present day? How the original concept or a will of the collector may impact the current appearance of the collection?).
4. Work of museologists with private collections (How to research private collections in public display or transformed into public institution? How these collections evolved over time, and how have museums reinterpreted these collections to remain relevant to contemporary and diverse audiences? How museum cooperate with collector's descendants? What is the legal situation of the collections, especially in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, where the collections were plundered and dispersed during World War II, and then nationalized during communism?).

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

THURSDAY, MAY 29

VENUE: COLLEGIUM MAIUS, SALON MICKIEWICZA, ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY

9.00 REGISTRATION

9.30 CONFERENCE OPENING

10.00-10.45 KEYNOTE LECTURE

Mary Anne Staniszewski (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York)

10.45-12.30 PANEL I: Collector’s Vision  

Chair: Michał Mencfel (Faculty of Art Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University)

10.45-11.05 Renske Cohen Tervaert (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo)

‘I hope to set an example for the future’. The implementation of Helene Kröller-Müller’s ideas and a future-proof Kröller-MüllerMuseum, 1935-2025

11.05-11.25Agnieszka Kluczewska-Wójcik (Polish Institute of World Art Studies)

Feliks Jasieński’s Museum – a vision for Polish art

11.25-11.45Guido Scholten (Liberna Collection, Draiflessen Collection, Mettingen)

From London to Mettingen: how the Liberna Collection found its home in a small village of Tüötten merchants

11.45-12.05 Magdalena Białonowska (Royal Castle in Warsaw - Museum / Institute of Art History, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw)

Collection without a Collector. Foundation without a Founder. A decade of activity of the Ciechanowiecki Collection Foundation (2015–2025)

DISCUSSION

12.30-12.45 COFFEE BREAK

12.45-14.30 PANEL II: Private Collections in Central European Museums

Chair: Kamila Kłudkiewicz (Faculty of Art Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University)

12.45-13.05 Andrea Gáldy (Collecting Central Europe/Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich)

From the Private Kunstkammer to the Public Museum: Issues of Access and Display

13.05-13.25 Cristina Moraru (National University of Arts George Enescu, Iași)

The Evolution of Private Collections in Public Institutions: A Case Study on the Zambaccian Collection

13.25-13.45 Renata Komić Marn (ZRC SAZU Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)

Between Home and Public Space: The Strahl and Attems Collections and their Role in the Development of Museum Activity in Carniola and Styria

13.45-14.05 Tina Košak (ZRC SAZU Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)

Three Castle Collections of the Counts of Herberstein Open to the Public

DISCUSSION

14.30-15.45 LUNCH BREAK

15.45-17.00 PANEL III: Engaging the Present. Curating and Managing Private Collections in Public Museums

Chair: Martyna Łukasiewicz de Espinosa (National Museum in Poznań)

15.45-16.05 Elisabetta Maistri(Eccel Kreuzer Museum, Bolzano)

Retrospectively Moving Forward: Beyond the Vision of Judge Josef Kreuzer for a Museum Display of Twentieth-Century Tyrolean Art at the Eccel Kreuzer Museum in Bolzano

16.05-16.25Sylvie Carlier (Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris)

Musée Marmottan: a collector’s museum from Empire to Impressionism. Paul Marmottan’s bequest to Académie des beaux-arts(Institut de France) in 1932. A peculiar destiny

16.25-16.45 Jennifer Scott (Dulwich Picture Gallery, London)

Does old art matter? Unlocking the creativity of the past

DISCUSSION

17.00-17.15 COFFEE BREAK

17.15-18.30 PANEL IV: Rethinking Collections. Contemporary Research Challenges

Chair: Ewa Manikowska (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)

17.15-17.35 Stijn Alsteens (Fondation Custodia - Collection Frits Lugt, Paris)

The House of Lugt – Art and Art History as the Legacy of a Dutch Collector and Connoisseur

17.35-17.55 Gertrud Oelsner (Ordrupgaard Museum, Copenhagen)

Collecting the Danish Canon – and beyond

17.55-18.15 Anna Ziemlewska (Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów)

Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów – postwar history and contemporary challenges

DISCUSSION

FRIDAY, MAY 30

VENUE: PICTURE GALLERY OF THE ROGALIN PALACE

9.45 OPENING OF THE SECOND DAY OF THE CONFERENCE

10.00-10.45 KEYNOTE LECTURE

Anne Higonnet (Columbia University, New York)

10.45-12.00 PANEL I: Shaping the Future of Heritage. Transferring Collections to the State

Chair: Thor J. Mednick (Department of Art, University of Toledo, Ohio)

10.45-11.05 Clara Marcellán Fernández (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid)

A permanent home, an extended family: the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid

11.05-11.25 Veronika Rudorfer (Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna)

From Heinz Berggruen's collection to Museum Berggruen

11.25-11.45 Tomáš Valeš, Jan Galeta (Masaryk University, Brno)

From Private Hands for the Benefit of the Public—the Role of the Local Elite of the Bohemian Lands in the Establishment of Art Collections

DISCUSSION

12.00-12.15 COFFEE BREAK

12.15-13.30 PANEL II: Private Collections within Public Institutions: General Overview

Chair: Camilla Murgia (Faculty of Art Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University)

12.15-12.35 Benjamin Spira (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

Bernhard August von Lindenau – his vision and legacy. A brief overview in the context of other museum founders of that period in German

12.35-12.55 John Chu (National Trust, London)

The Public Country House in 21st-Century Britain

12.55-13.15 Ewa Manikowska (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)

Private Collecting in Poland. A Distorted Tradition

DISCUSSION

13.30-13.45 CLOSING REMARKS