Since June 2017, Christina Thomson has been in charge of the art library’s graphic design collection. In doing so, she returned to her roots, as this was her first stop at the State Museums in Berlin. This was followed by many years of work as a freelancer at the National Gallery and later significant participation in one of the SPK’s largest provenance research projects on the “Gallery of the 20th Century”. Ms. Thomson was asked whether she had found a favorite piece in her first days of “Prussian service” and what went through her mind as she wandered through the collection.
“My favorite piece is hard to miss, because it is also the largest exhibit in the collection: the giant poster by Boris Bilinsky for the 1927 film “Metropolis” by Fritz Lang. Measuring 2.5 by 3 meters it immediately catches the eye. As a lover of architecture, this poster – which is the only surviving example – really excites me. But the collection has much more to offer – it ultimately includes over 250,000 works, mostly posters. My tasks extend, on the one hand, to classic collection care, the custodial aspect, and, on the other hand, to the development of exhibitions, i.e. the curatorial aspect. As I explore the collection’s depots, I continually discover new favorites. I often think: Now I have found my absolute favorite work. But on the next tour this feeling begins again.
I am sure that every new project will bring with it new favorite pieces. I have just curated the exhibition “Radlerei!”, which revolves around bicycle motifs in the art library, and fell in love with a poster by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, “La chaîne Simpson” from 1896, an outstanding design with a fascinating story.”
