Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum

The Friends/Verein
Projects
Activities
Board Membership
Statutes
Contact / Membership

The Friends / Verein

Founded in Germany in 1983, the Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum/Verein der Freunde des Busch-Reisinger Museums now numbers over 240 members, mostly based in Germany, though including also members in Austria, Switzerland, the United States, and other countries. This lively and internationally-minded group supports the work of the Busch-Reisinger Museum in all its many facets.

Projects supported by the Verein since 1983 have included a wide range of Exhibitions, including, for example, solo exhibitions of the work of contemporary artists such as Joseph Beuys, Günter Umberg, Hanne Darboven, Bernhard and Anna Blume, as well as major traveling exhibitions devoted to such topics as German drawings and watercolors of the age of Goethe, German Realist Drawings of the 1920s, and East German art. The Verein has also supported various Exhibition Catalogues, and Other Publications.

Key funding has come from the Verein for a number of Lectures and Symposia, as well as Curatorial Training, Teaching and Research, including internships.

In the highly significant field of Acquisitions, the Verein, together with individual members and other Friends, has enabled the Museum to add an extraordinarily rich spectrum of works to the collection, including late nineteenth-century drawings, paintings and works on paper by Gerhard Richter, large groups of postwar drawings, prints, and photographs, Bauhaus designs, and multiples by Joseph Beuys, to name only a few.

Membership in the Verein is tax deductible in Germany. In addition to receiving all the benefits of Friends of the Harvard University Art Museums at Patron level, Verein members can enjoy a range of further Activities, including special travel programs, attendance at the annual business meeting, the right to vote on Verein issues (including membership of the Board), and so on. The Statutes of the Foundation (in German) may be consulted here, along with a list of the Members of the Board.