The same would apply to a collection of English artistic etchings. One day, by exhibiting a private collection, I hope to be able to show you what this peculiar art means, this art that has altered the whole realm of modern English life. Wherever circumstances prevent us from increasing our collection of English pictures on a regular basis, we must acquire only etchings, which, after all, have the full value of an original. To date, there is no systematically maintained collection [of etchings] in Germany. Furthermore, in no other place is there as much cause to establish one. – Additionally, Germany also lacks a public collection on the history of modern wood engraving and modern etching in France. In our case, the character of our engravings department would require such a collection as a natural supplement to our holdings in German and English art. A comprehensive collection of this sort could still be assembled today without excessive investment; it would endow our art gallery with a unique quality.
These suggestions may suffice to give you an idea of the expansion of the Kupferstich-Cabinet in the narrower sense.
An art library will have to be connected to the engravings department. We require a comprehensive reference library in any case, and the public should also be able to access it any time in the reading room. It follows as a matter of course that it will be expanded into a specialist library, just as the reference library of the Industry Museum* has developed beyond its original conception out of necessity. The section on English art would be one of our library’s specialties. We have an obligation to gather everything the English have written about their art. We have already made a start. Together with our gallery and the aforementioned collection of English woodcuts and etchings included in the Kupferstich-Cabinet, our library will offer materials for the study of English art that are unique in all of Germany. As you will concede, we are not dealing here with a utopian project, but with the objective development of existing possibilities.
Furthermore, the Kupferstich-Cabinet will have to incorporate a collection of photographs. Today, they build the basis of any course of study and must support the history of painting just as plaster casts do the history of sculpture. The works of our national masters, the great Italians, the great Dutchmen, must be available in high-quality reproductions, so that visitors have access to the necessary illustrations whenever they use the library. Our photograph collection must also be expanded as a supplement to the English section. Our Kunsthalle must provide access to reproductions of at least all of those English masters whose works we possess in the original. Through such an expansion of the Kupferstich-Cabinet, we will bring together materials comprehensive enough to support even exhaustive studies.
Thus, we have gained an overview of the administration’s activity with regard to augmenting the collections. We are now left with its third task: utilization.
With respect to facilitating access and the general use of the collections, we will also follow the model of the great museums.
One cannot expect the very busy Hamburg public to visit the Kupferstich-Cabinet on a regular basis and to have the folders handed over to them for comfortable study. We must use all the means at our disposal to facilitate access to our treasures.
* Museum for Art and Industry [Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe] in Hamburg – trans.
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