DRESDEN.- As of November 1st 2015, Stephanie Buck will be taking over as director of Dresden's Kupferstich-Kabinett. The new director, D. A., born in 1964 in Kirn, Rheinland-Pfalz, follows her predecessor Bernhard Maaz, who took the lead as Director General of Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München on April 1st this year. Dr. Buck has worked since 2006 as a curator of drawings at the Courtauld Gallery in London. The museum, part of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, holds an outstanding collection of significant paintings, drawings and prints, sculptures and decorative arts stretching from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. The Courtauld Institute is one of the most renowned institutions for teaching and research in Britain, producing many of the leading art historians and museum directors both there and in the USA.

Stephanie Buck has coordinated the activities of the Courtauld Gallery's new Centre for the Study and Conservation of Drawings since 2010. During that time, close cooperation between art historians and paper conservators has led, among other things, to the creation of a catalogue of Spanish drawings which has helped open up that part of the collection to a wide audience. A publication on Flemish drawings is planned. The exhibitions which she has curated on the drawings of Michelangelo, the young Dürer and Francisco de Goya have received international acclaim.

Stephanie Buck studied Art History, Gallo-Romance Philology and German Studies at Freie Universität, Berlin and the University of Würzburg. For her thesis “Hans Holbein the Younger’s portraits of Henry VIII.” she was awarded the Ernst-Reuter-Preis of the Freie Universität Berlin in 1996.

Stephanie Buck has worked at internationally renowned museums, curating, among other things, the exhibition on 15th-century Dutch drawings “Vom Erfinden und Kopieren. Die niederländischen Zeichnungen des 15. Jahrhunderts“ (2001–2002) at the Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and that on late Gothic and Renaissance erman drawing, “Wendepunkte deutscher Zeichenkunst. Spätgotik und Renaissance“ (2003–2004) at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. In addition to this, she has regularly lectured at FU Berlin and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

Her research focuses on the visual arts of the early modern period, especially European drawing and painting north of the Alps in the 15th and 16th centuries, the autonomy of drawing around 1500 and drawing in the modern age.

Hartwig Fischer, Director General of Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden: “I am delighted that in such a short time we have succeeded in engaging Stephanie Buck for the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden: an academic with an excellent record, a recognised exhibition organiser and a charismatic leader. Working as a curator of drawings at the renowned Courtauld Gallery in London, she proved her feel for contemporary museum presentation of the graphic arts and as a promoter of her collection's work. This makes her ideal to fill the post at Dresden's Kupferstich-Kabinett; with an excellent team, she will lead the collection into the future.”

Eva-Maria Stange, Saxon Minister of State for Science and the Arts: “The significance of the Kupferstich-Kabinett is based on the high quality and unique nature of its collection. The collection's great importance is also the reason why we have managed to persuade such a highly qualified figure as Stephanie Buck to come from London to Dresden. The Kupferstich-Kabinett advertises itself as a museum where the world feels at home. It is a pleasure to me to be able to say the same of our new director. With her international experience, she will give the Kupferstich-Kabinett an additional boost, especially in terms of its international recognition.”

Stephanie Buck: “The Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden is one of the loveliest places in the world. Researching into this exceptional collection and directing it in a dialogue with my colleagues is a wonderful, exciting challenge which I intend to put all my efforts into meeting. It will be important to allow graphic art and photography to speak for themselves at exhibitions and in lecture theatres, demonstrating the modern relevance of these works whose sensitivity to light makes them so fragile. I look forward very much to working on this team and to an animated interchange with an audience from Dresden, Saxony and all over the world.”