EA sailor

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The EA Seemann Verlag is a German publishing company based in Leipzig . It was founded in 1858 and today operates as Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG . He specializes in the fields of art and art history .

history

Foundation and first generation

Publisher's founder Ernst Arthur Seemann, 1888
Logo of the publisher in 1927

On 1 December 1858 showed Ernest Arthur sailor at the age of 29 years in Essen the opening of his company under the name EA Seemann, publishing and retail book store, combined with art, music u. Second-hand bookstores .

On August 15, 1861, Seemann moved his company, which was the first publishing house to concentrate exclusively on art literature and painting reproductions, to Leipzig. The name EA Seemann quickly became a trademark for high-quality art literature. For example, Wilhelm Lübke 's History of Architecture (1858) and his History of Sculpture from All Times and Countries (1863), Robert Dohme's six-volume collection of biographies, Art and Artists of the Middle Ages and Modern Times (1875–1880), and the book series Seemann's contributions to Art history (since 1878) dedicated to individual artists, works of art, epochs or regions.

In 1868 the publishing house took over the rights to the works of the Swiss art historian Jacob Burckhardt . From 1866 onwards, the first German art magazine was published monthly by EA Seemann Verlag under the title Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst , which was a specialist publication in the art world for over 66 years. From 1867 the publisher published the yearbook for art history. Seemann used the printing blocks for woodcut illustrations available at the publishing house in 1877 to publish picture plates.

Ernst Arthur Seemann managed his company for over four decades. On January 1, 1899, he handed over the publishing business to his son Artur Seemann, born in 1861 .

Continuation in the second generation

Artur Seemann continued the direction of the publishing program that his father had started, shared management with Gustav Kirstein (1870–1934) from October 1, 1899, and withdrew heavily into private life. In 1923 he provided Gustav Kirstein with his eldest son Elert A. Seemann (1892–1989). In 1925, Artur Seemann committed suicide at the age of 64. In the meantime, the publishing house had changed its location in Leipzig several times until it moved into the newly built publishing house on April 1, 1912 in Hospitalstrasse (today: Prager Strasse) in the graphic quarter in the east of the city. Kirstein modernized EA Seemann Verlag and strengthened the company's reputation as one of the leading art publishers in Germany. He realized EA Seemann's color reproductions of masterpieces of classical and modern painting, which were made possible by the newly invented three-color printing in the large printing company Förster & Borries (Zwickau / Sa.). On its 50th anniversary, the publisher was able to show around 950 color motifs in a total of 150 million art sheets. It was the largest publishing company of its kind in the world. In addition to the single sheets at a price of one mark each , the publisher now also put together folders dedicated to selected artists and with short introductory texts.

From 1900 the publisher also printed large color reproductions, which were mainly used as wall decorations and teaching material. In the Modern Graphics series , original etchings were published on high-quality artist paper, mostly also signed by the artists. This collection comprised around 400 motifs in 1933, including sheets by Max Beckmann , Lovis Corinth , Käthe Kollwitz , Max Liebermann , Edvard Munch , Emil Nolde and Max Klinger . Kirstein reissued the story of Frederick the Great by the art historian Franz Kugler, first published in 1842, with 400 illustrations by Adolph Menzel in 1922, for which he bought the old wooden sticks from Menzel. The larger publications that have remained fundamental to research in art history include Wilhelm Waetzoldt's German Art Historians (1921/1924), Gustav Kirstein's monograph Das Leben Adolph Menzel (1919), Max Deri's Introduction to Contemporary Art (1919, 3rd edition 1922) and Hans Wolfgang Singers Die Moderne Graphik (1914, 3rd edition 1922).

In 1923 the 500-volume library of art history was started, of which only 88 numbers in 84 volumes have actually appeared. In this kaleidoscope-like book series, well-known, predominantly domestic, but also foreign art scholars commented in essayistic form on works of art ( Erwin Panofsky : The Sistine Ceiling ), artists ( Gustav Pauli : Leonardo da Vinci ), art epochs ( Camillo Praschniker : Cretan Art ) or overarching topics of art history ( Kurt Gerstenberg : Ideas for an art geography of Europe ). The octave-format volumes of the series dedicated to the visual arts , which began with Heinrich Wölfflin's The Explanation of Works of Art and ended with Hans Tietzes The French Painting of the Present , were divided into a text and a photo section and extended in scope, with the exception of the two Double volumes and the triple volume, not beyond two printed sheets .

With the eight-volume edition of the masterpieces. An art history for the German people (1927 to 1934) by the Leipzig professor for art history Leo Bruhns , the publisher presented an inexpensive and generally understandable reference work.

From 1911 the general lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present , taken over from Leipzig publisher Wilhelm Engelmann , was published, known as the " Thieme-Becker " after its two editors Ulrich Thieme (1865–1922) and Felix Becker (1864–1928) was published by EA Seemann Verlag. In 1923, Hans Vollmer took over the management of the editorial team at “Thieme-Becker”, which ended in 1947 with the last alphabetical and in 1950 with a volume on artists with emergency names and monogramists.

In 1911 the Seemann-Lichtbildanstalt was set up as a subsidiary company that produced the Seestern-Lichtbilder , slides for teaching and teaching purposes.

Era of national socialism

Elert A. Seemann (1892–1989) joined the NSDAP early on. He separated from his Jewish business partner Gustav Kirstein in 1933 after ten years of cooperation by way of a material asset separation: Kirstein was transferred - detached from EA Seemann - the art publisher with the image production, which soon had to be renamed "Master of Color". Kirstein was in possession of an exemption from the Reich Chamber of Art for the management . After Kirstein's death on February 14, 1934, his wife Clare Kirstein (suicide in the summer of 1939) took over the management. In 1938 the special permit became invalid. Elert A. Seemann then exercised his agreed repurchase right. Due to a dispute with the Reich Propaganda Ministry , the buyback did not become legally binding until 1942.

EA Seemann Verlag was now a pure book publisher and published its publications without using color printing. The art history profile of the publishing house, which had been built up over decades, was given up in favor of National Socialist propaganda publications. In the field of art history z. B. by Wilhelm Pinder On the essence and development of German forms as well as Hans Weigert's art of today as a mirror of time and Paul Schultze-Naumburg's art from blood and soil .

The heaviest bombing raid on Leipzig on December 4, 1943 destroyed the publishing house along with the photography company, all documents and printing equipment. Only the materials located outside the main building could be saved. In addition to stocks of finished print products, this affected the editorial team of the “Thieme-Becker” artist lexicon with its extensive library and the documents that had been compiled over five decades. The already completed printing set of the last volume of the “Thieme-Becker” was also destroyed. The clichés of the publisher's color prints, which were located at the place of their use, in the Zwickau printing company Förster & Borries, were spared.

After 1945 and during the GDR

The former Kirstein branch of the publishing house, now "Seemann & Co." again, received a license to continue production. On December 3, 1946, permission to publish the magazine for art and artistic design was granted. A year later, the continuation of the publishing house was secured with the license to “publish literature on art, art, cultural and intellectual history”. For the time being, the company remained in the possession of the Seemann family, even if Elert Seemann was not approved as an owner because of his former membership of the NSDAP. Seemann had already moved west after he had left all parts of the publishing house to his sister Irmgard Nussbaum-Seemann (1903–?) In September 1945. On February 13, 1946, she was confirmed as the owner of the publishing house by the occupying forces.

Elert Seemann himself tried to set up a branch of the family business in the British occupation zone, in Cologne, and ran it under great economic difficulties until his death in 1989, again as an art publisher, partly in collaboration with VEB EA Seemann in Leipzig. The sister planned to establish EA Seemann Verlag in Munich and transferred “Thieme-Becker” documents and color printing clichés to their “Nautilus” branch in Bavaria, which had already been founded in 1949. When this became known, Irmgard Nussbaum left the GDR in February 1952.

The EA Seemann publishing house was then expropriated and on August 8, 1952 converted into a state- owned company (VEB). The name of its founder, E (rnst) A (rthur) Seemann, was retained as the company name after long arguments with Cologne-based Elert Seemann.

With the appearance of the magazine for art , the new beginning of the publishing activity was initiated, the book production was continued. The last volume of “Thieme-Becker” could be re-set, printed and delivered in 1947 thanks to a galley proof that was saved. New monographs and art volumes as well as calendars were included in the program, as well as reprints. In 1951, EA Seemann Verlag was assigned the residential building Jacobstrasse 6 in Leipzig as a new publishing house. In addition to the Verlag der Kunst in Dresden and the Henschel Verlag Kunst und Gesellschaft , the EA Seemann Verlag did most of the art book production in the GDR. Otto Halle was initially assigned the management of the EA Seemann publishing house ; he was replaced in 1954 by Gerhard Keil (1922–1997). He built EA Seemann into the leading art publisher in the GDR.

After the conclusion of the “Thieme-Becker”, in which the artists born after 1870 were no longer listed, the work had to be supplemented and updated. Hans Vollmer took on this task. Within eight years he worked on six further volumes, which were published from 1953 to 1962 under the title the General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century . The "Thieme-Becker-Vollmer" is reprinted unchanged to this day. At the end of the sixties, a new edition began, the general artist lexicon of visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL), which was initially laid out in 30 volumes. Due to the inadequate technical equipment and the limited use of libraries outside the GDR, the publication of the first volume lasted until 1983; volumes 2 and 3 followed every three years. Since April 1, 1991, the work has been continued by KG Saur Verlag . In the meantime, 99 volumes of the AKL have been published, whereby the three volumes still published by EA Seemann Verlag have been reprinted in four volumes for reasons of standardization.

In the 1970s, EA Seemann Verlag began a new major project, the history of German art . The first volume of the work, which was written by art historians from several universities and the Academy of Sciences of the GDR , came out in 1981. Under the direction of Friedrich Möbius (Jena), Ernst Ullmann (Leipzig), Harald Olbrich (Berlin), Peter H. Feist (Berlin) and others, ten extensive volumes were published up to 1990 that deal with individual art eras from the Middle Ages to the present. The volumes also reflect the methodological diversity of art historical research in the second half of the 20th century. Because of the economic crisis that began in 1990, the project had to be canceled.

In addition to Seemann's large art calendar , there has been a monthly calendar called Das Schöne Detail and three differently oriented postcard calendars since the late 1960s . The reproductions of paintings also formed an important part of the publishing program.

From 1990 until today

After 1989, the publishing house was administered in trust for a while until Silvius Dornier acquired the publishing house and incorporated it into the newly founded Dornier Medienholding , based in Berlin, in the summer of 1992 . Editing and production by the publisher remained in Leipzig. The name EA Seemann was also retained. The revision of the Lexikon der Kunst was continued, a new volume on the history of German art appeared, series such as the Kunstgeschichtliche Städtebücher , the articles on art history , the booklets of the architectural monuments and also the Leipziger Blätter , which had been edited since the mid-1980s , increased by new editions . However, most of these episodes were discontinued in the 1990s. The complete range of calendars also appeared for the last time in 1992. In addition to the Lexikon der Kunst , Seemanns Small Art Lexicon (1994) and Seemanns Lexikon der Architektur (1994) are single-volume reference works. In the Art and Design series , classics of art practice were republished, including Max Doerner's painting material and its use from 1921, John Gage's investigation into the language of colors and authors such as Johannes Itten and Gottfried Bammes.

The Dornier media holding company split from the 1992 acquired art and cultural publishers, which include EA Seemann nor the publishers Edition Leipzig and Henschel were. On April 1, 2003, the shareholders Bernd Kolf and Jürgen A. Bach acquired the three publishing houses and re-founded them in Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, which was joined by the traditional Leipzig publisher Koehler & Amelang in the summer of 2004 . The company's headquarters are in Leipzig.

The still most extensive artist lexicon in the world, the " Thieme-Becker-Vollmer " (as CD-ROM) completed in 1960 , as well as the seven-volume lexicon of art are still in the circulation program, and study editions of both works have also been published. Other one-volume encyclopedias on various subjects of the fine arts are included in the program, such as the Lexicon of Symbols (2003), the Lexicon of Ornaments (2004), Stefan Dürre's Lexicon of Sculpture (2007) and Brigitte Riese's Lexicon of Iconography (2007). Monographs are now appearing, among other things, in a series of paperback volumes on individual masterpieces from art history. With articles by Barbara John on Max Klinger - Beethoven (2004) and Caspar David Friedrich - Kreidefelsen auf Rügen (2005) as well as by Roland Krischel on Stefan Lochner - The Mother of God in the Rosenlaube (2006), an old publishing tradition was revived here too.

After the publishing group Seemann Henschel filed for bankruptcy on March 1, 2017 , it was taken over by Michael Kölmel , the owner of Zweiausendeins , on October 1, 2017 . Annika Bach has been managing director and publisher since 2017 .

The archive material of the publishing house from the years 1864 to 1995 is now in the Leipzig State Archives .

literature

  • A hundred years in the service of art! Tradition, festive reflection and perspective of the VEB EA Seemann in Leipzig . In: Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel (Leipzig) 125, 1958, pp. 806–808.
  • Alfred Langer: Art Literature and Reproduction. 125 years of Seemann-Verlag in the service of research and dissemination of art . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1983.
  • Reinhard Würffel: Lexicon of German publishers from A – Z. 1,071 publishers and 2,800 publisher's signets; from the beginning of book printing to 1945. Addresses, dates, facts, names . Verlag Grotesk, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-9803147-1-5 , pp. 800-803.
  • P. Neumann: Seemann, EA In: Lexicon of the entire book system . 2nd edition, Volume 7, Stuttgart 2007, p. 44.
  • Ute Willer, Susanne Müller-Wolff: 150 years of EA Seemann. The history of the oldest German art publisher. 1858-2008 . EA Seemann, Leipzig 2008.
  • Ulrich Faure : 150 years of EA Seemann . In: From the Antiquariat 2008, No. 1, pp. 28–30.
  • Ralph Gambihler: In the land of horsetail. The Seemann Verlag and its history from 1945 . In: Leipziger Blätter 2008, No. 52, pp. 38–40.
  • Christoph Links : The fate of the GDR publishers. Privatization and its consequences . Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-523-2 , pp. 160-163.
  • Lothar Poethe:  Seemann, Ernst Arthur. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 153 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Lothar Poethe:  Seemann, Arthur. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 154 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : EA Seemann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Curt Vinz, Günter Olzog: Documentation German language publishers. 8th edition, Günter Olzog, Munich / Vienna 1983, p. 358.
  2. ↑ Verlagsgruppe Seemann Henschel files for bankruptcy , Buchmarkt , March 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ Leipzig books. Future for Seemann and Henschel . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of September 30, 2017, p. 14; Under a cultural roof. Interview on the future of Seemann Henschel , Boersenblatt.net October 24, 2017.
  4. ↑ Annika Bach on the restart of EA Seemann , Book Market December 17, 2017.
  5. ↑ Review .

Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 4 "  N , 12 ° 23 ′ 32"  E