Die Photographische Sammlung is the photography museum of the SK Stiftung Kultur , the cultural foundation of the Sparkasse KölnBonn bank in Cologne, Germany. The full name is usually stylized Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur. The collection includes an archive of the photographs of August Sander.[1]
The museum was founded in 1992 after the SK Stiftung Kultur bought the archive of the photographs of August Sander.[2] from Gerd Sander, August Sander's grandson.[3]
On February 10, 2022, claiming fair use, August's great-grandson Julian Sander released the entire archive online as almost free (other than a small admin fee) non fungible tokens (NFT) made available via the OpenSea NFT marketplace. SK Stiftung Kultur issued a copyright infringement notice to OpenSea, stating that it held the copyright of the archive until 2032.[3]
The museum sometimes lends the photographs from the original archive for exhibits about Sander, his work and that of his contemporaries.[4][5] The museum was one of the organizers of the Bernd & Hila Becher show at the Met Museum in 2022.[6]
The collection includes over 30,000 photographs from around the world.[7] In 2021, the museum published From Becher to Blume:Photographs from the Garnatz Collection and Die Photographische Sammlung-SK Stiftung Kultur, in Dialogue.[8]
50°56′56″N 6°56′36″E / 50.9488°N 6.9432°E / 50.9488; 6.9432