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Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten / Bibliotheek / Kunstenaars documentatie / Collecties

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten / Library / Artist Documentation / Collections

Size 30,000 volumes, including exhibition catalogues, CD-Roms, videos and 65 current periodicals, files on (ex)participants of the Rijksakademie
Character and emphasis The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten was founded in 1870, continuing the academy of art (Stads-Teeken- Academie), existing in Amsterdam since the early 18th century and the Royal Academy of Arts (Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten) founded by King William I in 1817. Since 1986 the Rijksakademie functions as a postgraduate institute, providing a limited number of participants (60 artists) to work for one or two years at their projects under the guidance of theoritical and artistic advisors who are well-established artists themselves.
The library concentrates chiefly on contemporary visual arts. In view of its history, it is also rich in earlier art-historical and art-theoretical literature. The Artist Documentation (since 1986) collects visual and text material on (ex) participants of the Rijksakademie. The collection covers material like photographs, slides, videocompilations and computerwork, as well as newspaper clippings, exhibition reviews and magazine articles and curriculum information.

Special collections

• The Rijksakademie owns a collection of 6,000 prints and drawings by professors and students at the academy (since ca. 1750)
• A 19th-century collection of plaster casts

• Automated catalogue