Franz Marc, Fabeltier, 1912, published in Der Blaue Reiter almanac. Color woodcut on rice paper. Collectively owned by RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

This Luxurious Edition of The Blaue Reiter Almanac by Kandinsky and Franz Marc Exhibited for the First Time After Restoration

Name: WHITE Digital Agency
Price range: $

The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund supported the restoration and digitization of the first copy of this luxurious edition in a Dutch public collection

By TEFAF Editors
June 24, 2022
Museum Restoration Fund

In 2015, the RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag (then Gemeentemuseum) collectively acquired a rare, luxurious copy of the almanac Der Blaue Reiter (1912), the first copy of this edition to enter Dutch public collections and to be exhibited. Edited by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, the almanac presents the art movement Der Blaue Reiter’s synthesis of international culture to the European avant-garde through documents, musical notations, essays, and illustrations.

EWPR Nx GO Rni YSQ Zjr LCP — Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc (eds.), *Der Blaue Reiter*, 1912, after restoration (Munich: Piper, 1912). Bound with blue Morocco leather with gold embossed Kandinsky vignette on the cover. Collectively owned by RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

2l Gcx FT Pe Zkq R1gys H Kg — Title page of *Der Blaue Reiter*, 1912, after restoration (Munich: Piper, 1912). Collectively owned by RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

The condition of the book and its original case was fragile and required restoration, which was supported by the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund in 2017. The treatment consisted of repairing the casing and the upper side of the book’s spine, fixing the blotting papers, and removing foxing on pages. The restoration project made it possible to present the almanac to the public for the first time through exhibitions and made the publication fully accessible online through digitization.