Weilbach's Archive

Weilbach’s Archivev was deposited at Danmarks Kunstbibliotek by the private institution Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon (Weilbach’s Dictionary of Artists). The Archive contains data and documents about Danish visual artists and architects. More

What does the collection cover?

The collections in the archive were built up in the course of more than 125 years. The nucleus is composed of the material Philip Weilbach (1834-1900) gathered in connection with the preparation of the first two editions of his dictionary of artists: the Dansk Konstnerleksikon from 1877-78 and Nyt Dansk (The New Danish) Kunstnerleksikon from 1896-97. Among other things it contains a unique collection of letters from artists and the artists’ surviving relatives to whom Weiilbach had personally written with a view to gathering information.

In all the Archive contains information on some 35,000 Danish artists from the Middle Age up to 1989,when the collection of information for the fourth edition of the lexikon came to an end. This edition, which is the most recent, can be searched online.

A very large proportion of the archive is information gathered in connection with the third and fourth editions of the lexicon, which appeared in 1947-1952 and 1994-2000 respectively. The material exists in the form of a very extensive/comprehensive card index compiled on the basis of documents, catalogues, books and periodicals, supplemented by questionnaires filled out by artists as the editing for these editions was taking place.

How do I view the material?

Along with other “major material”, these questionnaires were sent in by the artists or collected by the editorial board, (such as exhibition lists, i.a..) , registered (in?) the Library catalogue and can be ordered/requested for examination in the Reading Room at Kongens Nytorv.

The other material has not been registered/indexed, but may be viewed in the Study Room in Søborg following a referral addressed to dkb@kunstbib.dk. PLEASE REMEMBER to book a time for your visit to the Study Room - Book a time for the Study Room

Accession

No further active data gathering is undertaken for Weilbachs Arkiv. For copyright reasons no updating or alterations are made to the online version of the lexicon. However CVs from artists and architects are gladly accepted by the Archive, as well as information about errors or other corrections for use in a forthcoming edition.