Zentralinsititut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich: Photothek inventory books 1947-1999

The Photothek was founded at the same time as the Zentralinsititut für Kunstgeschichte (Central Institute of Art History) in 1947 and was and is built up primarily through the purchase of image material and the acceptance of donations. As a result, it contains images that are considerably older in some cases. After the Central Collecting Point, set up by the US military government to identify and repatriate looted art, was dissolved in 1949, the photographic documentation created there was also lost. The collection, which was originally intended to cover the whole of European art history up to the modern period, later focused on the history of architecture, late medieval panel painting and book illumination. From 1961 to 1975, material for a ‘Bildarchiv der deutschen Kunst’ (Picture Archive of German Art) was systematically acquired as part of a project funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, and this was inventoried separately.

When the collection was built up, an accession or inventory number was assigned from the outset, and this is also noted on the photographic objects (usually prints mounted on cardboard). The first inventory volumes were handwritten, using printed account books. From May 1949, the data was typed on A4 paper in the style of index cards (approx. A7) and the sheets were glued into the books. From March 1955, the A4 sheets were filed in office folders. The additions to the aforementioned ‘Bildarchiv der deutschen Kunst’ were also recorded in this form. The data usually includes information about the title, attribution, dating and location of the building or work of art depicted, as well as the authorship of the photograph. The circumstances of the photographs' acquisition were recorded partly in additional notes and partly in separate handwritten books.

From 2000, additions were recorded digitally only. Since 2024, the paper-based inventories have been read using AI-supported OCR and used to create a digital catalogue.