With the inventory of its art collection, Berliner Volksbank for the very first time provides broad insights into one of the most interesting corporate collections in Germany. This comprehensive publication highlights the collection’s significance in terms of art history and cultural policy. The original ambition “Bilder vom Menschen – Bilder für Menschen” (Images of People – Images for People) is still at the heart of the concept behind the collection, which was founded in 1985 and now comprises over 1,500 works by 160 artists. Ever since its foundation, the selection has been concentrating on figurative art after 1950, with a focus on paintings, sculptures, works on paper and prints by artists from Berlin, Brandenburg and Eastern Germany. Today, positions from both Eastern and Western Germany are equally represented. The collection’s current emphasis is on figurative positions from the 1980s and 1990s.

On more than 300 pages, the inventory presents a detailed list of works, biographies of the artists and a chronological account of the history of the collection. In addition, it contains several accompanying essays and an interview.

With works by artists such as: Horst Antes, Elvira Bach, Norbert Bisky, Rainer Fetting, Bernhard Heisig, Markus Lüpertz, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Herta Müller, A. R. Penck, Salomé, Cornelia Schleime, Bernard Schultze, Willi Sitte, Werner Tübke, Max Uhlig, Hans Uhlmann, Wolf Vostell, Fritz Winter