Elke Purpus

Elke Purpus (* 1961 in Bremen ) is a German art historian and has been director of the Cologne City Art and Museum Library (KMB) since 2004 .

Life

After studying art history , class. Archeology and journalism in Göttingen and at the Free University of Berlin with a Magister Artium degree (1990), Purpus received his doctorate in 1996 on the "Block Books of the Apocalypse " with Reiner Haussherr in Berlin . From 1992 to 1994 she completed her legal clerkship for the higher library service at academic libraries in the Free University of Berlin and the library school in Frankfurt a. M. After a work contract in the art library of the SMPK in Berlin in 1996, she took over the development of the department for public relations at the SUB Goettingen in addition to several specialist presentations . At the same time, Purpus organized more than ten exhibitions for the SUB Göttingen during this time. T. extensive catalogs. The exhibitions were particularly successful:

• Siberia, Finland, Hungary: Finnish-Ugric languages ​​and peoples in the tradition of a Göttingen special collection area.
• “The good head shines out everywhere”: Goethe, Göttingen and science.
• Gutenberg and its effect.

In 2000 Purpus took over the management of KMB. Since 2004 she has been the director of the art and museum library / Rheinisches Bildarchiv of the city of Cologne, the "intellectual heart of Cologne museums" or generally the "brain of art".

Art and Museum Library of the City of Cologne

During her term of office, Purpus has initiated numerous central projects and developments. This essentially includes, in the area of ​​science management, the constant and sustainable improvement of the KMB's services (e.g. document delivery service, the indexing of artist files / small letters) and the removal of the technological backlog of the Rheinische Bildarchiv. The step from analog to digital photography was initiated and corresponded to the openness to technical innovations that characterize all KMB directors. Research results and inventory descriptions of the KMB are published in the institution's two series of publications.

The most important projects initiated are: the "Archive of Remembrance of the Nazi Era in the Rhineland" (in cooperation with the Rhineland Regional Association), the participation of the KMB in the project "Art in Public Space in Cologne" and that funded by the German Research Foundation "Gallery publications" project, with which the KMB is to build up the largest possible inventory of these publications.

In addition, important collections and libraries were taken over, such as B. the library Peter and Irene Ludwig , the library Evelyn Weiss , the library George Brecht , the collection of artists and the art documentation Kittel, as well as the KMB's own collection of artist books and book objects was deepened and emphasized.

In addition to numerous publications in the library sector and in the art and museum library, Purpus’s research and publication focus includes memorials from the Nazi era and artist books. In particular, the artist's books are presented as "lively, current objects of the present" through numerous exhibitions in the KMB.

Board activities

• 2008–2012: Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the History and Archives Section of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie e. V.
• 2010: elected chairman of the Association of Art Libraries (AKB)
• Current: Member of the board of the Architektur Forum Rheinland e. V. and the Friends of the Art and Museum Library eV

Publications (selection)

Gutenberg Society and Gutenberg Museum (ed.): Block books of the Middle Ages: sequences of images as reading; [Catalog texts: Sabine Mertens, Elke Purpus and Cornelia Schneider], Mainz 1991.

• this: The block books of the Apocalypse, Marburg 1999.
• this: together with Elmar Mittler and Georg Schwedt (eds.), "The good head shines out everywhere". Goethe, Göttingen and Science, Göttingen 1999.
• This: "There are no withered roses in the GDR" - For an introduction to Heinz Tetzner's graphic works, in: Tetzner, Charlotte: Frierende. With drawings and wood prints by Heinz Tetzner (ed. By Hans Hesse), Essen 2004, 80–97.
• this .: Possibilities and processes of retro-digitization - from practice for practice, in: AKMB news 10 (2004), issue 3, 55–57.
• this: editor of the series of publications of the art and museum library of the city of Cologne. So far published: Purpus, Elke / Sellen, Günther B .: Bunker in Cologne - Attempts at making it visible, Vol. 1 of the series of publications by the City of Cologne's Art and Museum Library, Essen 2006; Purpus, Elke: The art and museum library of the city of Cologne. The history of the library and the photo archive, vol. 2 of the series of publications of the art and museum library, Essen 2007; Hesse, Hans / Purpus, Elke: Commemoration and remembering in the Rhein-Erft district. A guide to memorials, memorials and memorials from the First World War and the Nazi era (as well as the Second World War), Vol. 3 of the publication series of the Art and Museum Library, Essen 2008; Hesse, Hans / Purpus, Elke: memorial guide Cologne. A guide to Cologne monuments commemorating persecution and resistance under National Socialism. Vol. 4 of the series of publications of the Art and Museum Library, Essen 2010.
• This: editor of the small writings of the art and museum library of the city of Cologne. So far published: Hesse, Hans / Purpus, Elke: Gedenk-Raum, Kleine Schriften der Kunst- und Museumsbibliothek, Vol. 1, Cologne 2011; Inge Schmidt, one thing that wanted the other - artist books, vol. 2, Cologne 2013.
• This: editor of the Cologne Museum Bulletin 1/2006, 2/2006, 3/2006, 4/2006.
• This: AKMB-news editorial team from 2001 to 2006.
• This: Art and Museum Library - a documentation center on art, in: Kölner Museums-Bulletin, 3/2008, pp. 50–55.
• this .: Online system of the art and museum library (KMB) of the city of Cologne, in: ProLibris 13/2008, 153–154.
• this: The Rheinische Bildarchiv of the city of Cologne. Service provider for the Cologne museums and department of a documentation facility for art, in: Rundbrief Fotografie Vol. 16 (2009), No. 1, pp. 13-18.
• This: 10 years EDITIONALE in Cologne, in: Kölner Museums-Bulletin, 1/2009, pp. 60–62.
• this: together with Hans Hesse, Die Barbara-Kapelle in Pulheim - "Hall of Fame of the War Saints" or "Pantheon of Faith Fighters" ?, in: Pulheimer Contributions to History, Volume 34/2009, pp. 334–369.
• this: together with Hans Hesse, "In front of your own front door, repression becomes more difficult". Gunter Demnig's project STOLPERSTEINE in Frechen, in: Yearbook of the Frechener Geschichtsverein eV, Vol. 5/2009, pp. 221–250.
• This: Christine Litke: Unique books, in: Kölner Museums-Bulletin, 3/2009, pp. 24–31.
• this: together with Hans Hesse, Monuments and Commemorative Sites for German Expelles, in: Niven, Bill / Paver, Chloe, Memorialization in Germany since 1945, Basingstoke 2010 (Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 48–57.
• this: together with Hans Hesse, Willy Meller (1887–1974) - sketches about the Cologne artist and his work for the NS-Ordensburgen, in: Geschichte in Köln 59/2012, pp. 231–268.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Warhols Tomatensuppe, from March 23, 2007, p. 28.
2. ↑ StadtRevue, 03/2007, The Brain of Art. The art and museum library turns fifty.
3. ↑ Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, library treasures with creative substance, from July 23, 2009, p. 39.

Web links

• Literature by and about Elke Purpus in the catalog of the German National Library